King's skull found under parking lot in England

LEICESTER, England (AP) ? Scientists say they have found the 500-year-old remains of England's King Richard III under a parking lot in the city of Leicester.

University of Leicester researchers say it is "beyond reasonable doubt" that a battle-scarred skeleton unearthed last year is the king, who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Osteologist Jo Appleby said Monday that a study of the bones provides "a highly convincing case for identification of Richard III."

And DNA from the skeleton matches a sample taken from a distant living relative.

The last English monarch to die in battle, Richard was depicted in a play by William Shakespeare as a hunchbacked usurper who left a trail of bodies ? including those of his two princely nephews, murdered in the Tower of London ? on his way to the throne.

Many historians say that villainous image is unfair.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/experts-weve-found-englands-king-richard-iii-104514414.html

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Arkansas gas prices up 17 cents over past week

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- The AAA says gas prices in Arkansas have gone up 17 cents in the past week.

The average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Arkansas is $3.34 as of Monday. A week ago, the price was $3.17 per gallon.

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers area reported the highest average price among the state's metropolitan areas, at $3.37 per gallon. The national average is $3.52 per gallon.

Officials say retail prices in the central United States have risen the most dramatically as a result of an increase in the costs of products used by refiners that supply the region.

Arkansas' record high for gasoline is $3.97 per gallon, set in July 2008.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arkansas-gas-prices-17-cents-161347597.html

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VKEDCO: Vladimir Kulyukin's Education Coop: Python & Perl ...

There is a one-to-one correspondence between finite state automata (FSA) and regular expressions in the sense that every regular expression can be compiled into an FSA and for every FSA there is an equivalent regular expression. Equivalence in this context is construed as the equivalence of languages. In other words, an FSA and a regular expression are equivalent if and only if they accept/recognize the same language.

Suppose we want to implement a finite state machine (FSM) and use it in pattern matching. The abbreviations FSA and FSM are interchangeable. The most important aspect of an FSM is its transition table. Consider an FSM in Figure 1.

This FSM has two states {1, 2}. The start state is 1 and the end state is 2. The language accepted by this FSM is {a}. To put it differently, this automaton accepts only one string that consists of the symbol a.
?
We can represent the transition table of this FSA with a Python dictionary or a Perl hash.

tran_tbl_01 = {}
tran_tbl_01['a'] = {1 : [2]}
?
The above code fragment represents the FSM's transition table as a dictionary of dictionaries. The first dictionary takes a symbol, e.g., 'a', and maps it to another dictionary that maps states to lists of states. In other words, when reading 'a', in state 1, the FSM can transition to any state in the list [2]. In this case, this list contains only 1 state, but it can have multiple states or be empty.

In Perl, we can realize the same ideas as follows:

my %tran_tbl_01_a = (1, [2]);
my %tran_tbl_01 = ('a', \%tran_tbl_01_a);




We first obtain a hash (%hash_tbl_01) that maps 1 to [2] and then place its reference into another hash (%tran_tbl_01)? under the key 'a'.?

Once we have an FSA's transition table, we need to access its elements. Here is a way to do it in Python.

def tran_table_lookup(sym, state, tran_tbl):
??? if tran_tbl.has_key(sym):
??????? return tran_tbl.get(sym, []).get(state, [])
??? else:
??????? return []

def tran_table_epsilon_lookup(state, tran_tbl):
??? return tran_table_lookup('', state, tran_tbl)

Note that we encode the epsilon as ''. Recall that epsilon transitions allow the FSA to transition from its current state to another state without consuming any input.

Here is how the same access functionality can be implemented in Perl:

sub tran_table_lookup {
? my ($sym, $state, $tran_tbl) = @_;
? ## check if $sym exists in $tran_tbl.
? if ( exists($tran_tbl->{$sym}) ) {
??? ## if it does, get the hash reference that maps?
? ? ## individual states to lists of states
??? my $state_to_states = $tran_tbl->{$sym};
??? ## check if the current state $state exists as a key
??? if ( exists($state_to_states->{$state}) ) {
????? ## if it does, return the reference to the corresponding list of states
????? return $state_to_states->{$state};
??? }
??? else {
????? ## return an empty list reference
????? my @empty_ary = ();
????? return \@empty_ary;
??? }
? }
}

sub tran_table_epsilon_lookup {
? my ($state, $tran_tbl) = @_;
? return tran_table_lookup('', $state, $tran_tbl);
}
?
?
An FSA can be represented as a 3-tuple of a start state, a list of final states, an transition table. Here is a Python realization of this representational choice:

fsa_01 = (1, [2], tran_tbl_01)

def get_start_state(fsa): return fsa[0]
def get_fin_states(fsa): return fsa[1]
def get_tran_table(fsa): return fsa[2]

Perl's implementation is similar:

my @fsa_01 = (1, [3], \%tran_tbl_01);

sub get_start_state {
?return $_[0];
}

sub get_fin_states {
? return $_[1];
}

sub get_tran_table {
? return $_[2];
}?

Let i be the current position in some text txt, n - the length of txt, cur_state is the current state of the FSA, fin_states is the FSA's final states, and tran_tbl is the FSA's transition table. Then, given an FSA, we can use the following method to see if txt is accepted by the FSA.

match_fsa(txt, i, n, cur_state, fin_states, tran_tbl):
? ? if ( i == n ):
? ? ? ? if ( cur_state is in fin_states ):
? ? ? ? ? ? return true
? ? ? ? else:
? ? ? ? ? ? next_epsilon_states = states the FSA can get to on epsilon from cur_state
? ? ? ? ? ? for nes in next_epsilon_states:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? if nes is in fin_states:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? return true
? ? ? ? ? ? return false
? ? else:
? ? ? ?? next_states = states the FSA can get to from cur_state on txt[i]
? ? ? ?? next_epsilon_states = states the FSA can get to from cur_state on epsilon
? ? ? ?? if (next_states and next_epsilon_states are both empty):
? ? ? ? ? ?? return false
? ? ? ?? else:
? ? ? ? ? ?? for ns in next_states:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? rslt = match_fsa(txt, i+1, n, ns, fin_states, tran_tbl)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? if ( rslt is true ): return true
? ? ? ? ? ?? for nes in next_epsilon_states:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? rslt = match_fsa(txt, i, n, nes, fin_states, tran_tbl)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? if ( rslt is true): return true
? ? ? ? ? ?? return false
?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ?
What To Implement
1. Implement match_fsa in Python & Perl.?

2. Build two FSA's that accept languages {(ab)^n | n >= 1} and {a^n | n is even} U {b^n | n is odd}. One FSA for each language.
?

3. Construct two regular expressions in Python and Perl for the same languages.?

4. Test both FSAs and your regular expressions on the following set of strings: '', 'ab', 'abab', 'ababab', 'abbb', 'aaaa', 'aaa', 'aaaaaa', 'b', 'bbb', 'bbbbb', 'abbaabba'.?

5. Do you notice any difference between your implementation of match_fsa and the way the native regex engines do the matching? Briefly (no more than 3 sentences) explain what is the difference, if there is any.?

What & Where To Submit
1. Create a subfolder hw_04 in your Dropbox folder and submit two files there: fsa.py and fsa.pl.

2. The files should contain your implementations of match_fsa, your regular expressions, and your answer to question 5.

Source: http://vkedco.blogspot.com/2013/02/python-perl-matching-text-patterns-with.html

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Unique Content Article on sports, outdoors, recreation ... - bicycle

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://bicycleland.blogspot.com/2013/02/unique-content-article-on-sports.html

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NRA likens universal checks to gun registry

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The National Rifle Association's executive vice president continued to oppose background checks for all gun purchases despite polls indicating that most NRA members don't share his position.

The NRA's Wayne LaPierre tells "Fox News Sunday" that background checks for all gun purchases would lead to a universal registry of gun owners. Critics say such a registry could lead to taxes on guns or to confiscation.

Mark Kelly, a gun owner married to the former Arizona congresswoman who survived a 2011 shooting, asked LaPierre to listen to his members. He said the current system prevented 1.7 million gun purchases since 1999. However, those potential buyers had other options because many gun sales don't require a background check.

Kelly and LaPierre agree more people seeking to buy guns illegally should be prosecuted.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-03-Gun%20Checks/id-b721ce1241a946fcb375bd96e8ef7f47

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APNewsBreak: Feds: Warming imperils wolverines

This undated image provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a badger. Add the tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving predator sometimes called the "mountain devil," to the list of species the government says is threatened by climate change. Federal wildlife officials on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, will propose Endangered Species Act protections for the rare animal in the lower 48 states ? a step twice denied under the Bush administration. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

This undated image provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a badger. Add the tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving predator sometimes called the "mountain devil," to the list of species the government says is threatened by climate change. Federal wildlife officials on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, will propose Endangered Species Act protections for the rare animal in the lower 48 states ? a step twice denied under the Bush administration. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) ? The tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving carnivore sometimes called the "mountain devil," is being added to the list of species threatened by climate change ? a dubious distinction that puts it in the ranks of the polar bear and several other animals that could see their habitats shrink drastically due to warming temperatures.

Federal wildlife officials on Friday will propose Endangered Species Act protections for the wolverine in the lower 48 states, a step twice denied under the Bush administration.

The Associated Press obtained details of the government's long-awaited ruling on the rare and elusive animal in advance of Friday's announcement.

There are only 250 to 300 wolverines in the contiguous U.S., clustered into small, isolated groups primarily in the Northern Rockies of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington. Larger populations persist in Alaska and Canada.

Maxing out at 40 pounds and tough enough to stand up to grizzly bears, the animals will be no match for anticipated declines in deep mountain snows that female wolverines need to establish dens and raise their young, scientists said.

Yet because that habitat loss could take decades to unfold, federal wildlife officials said there's still time to bolster the population, including by reintroducing them to the high mountains of Colorado.

Wildlife advocates, who sued to force the government to act on the issue, said they hope the animal's plight will be used by the Obama administration to leverage tighter restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions. As with the polar bear, the government could sidestep that thorny proposition by not addressing threats outside the wolverine's immediate range.

But a special rule proposed by the Fish and Wildlife Service would allow Colorado's wildlife agency to reintroduce an experimental population of the animals that eventually could spill into neighboring portions of New Mexico and Wyoming.

Federal officials also want to shut down wolverine trapping in Montana, the only one of the lower 48 states where the practice is still allowed.

In recent years, Montana wildlife officials have waged court battles against environmentalists who want to stop trapping. If Friday's proposal goes through after a public comment period, wolverine trapping would be banned.

Federal officials said other human activities ? from snowmobiling and skiing to infrastructure development and transportation corridors ? are not significant threats to wolverines and would not be curtailed under Friday's proposal.

Once found throughout the Rocky Mountains and in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, wolverines were wiped out across the Lower 48 by the 1930s due to unregulated trapping and poisoning campaigns, said Bob Inman, a wolverine researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society.

In the decades since, they've largely recovered in the Northern Rockies but not in other parts of their historical range, he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-02-01-Wolverine-Climate%20Change/id-5e9080f7d4ae420696f4ca74f534e177

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Unique photography rig captures snowflakes in mid-flight

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 18 hrs.

They say no two snowflakes look the same ? well, scientists at the University of Utah aren't going to take that for granted. They've devised a photography rig that can take detailed photos and measurements of thousands of snowflakes in a single night.

It's called the Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera, and it's just what it sounds like. Three cameras are arrayed around an infrared sensor that detects the presence of a snowflake and tells the cameras to fire. By lighting the snowflake carefully and using a super-short exposure (1/25,000th of a second), they can get tack-sharp images of snowflakes on the fly.

The system is so efficient that it can take tens ofthousands of shots in a single night. While that may be too many to browse through for fun, it's a huge benefit to researchers. Meteorologists only have a partial understanding of snowflakes ? their size, density, shape, fall speed, things like that ? because, naturally enough, they tend to melt before anyone can get a good look at them.

MASC is the project of University of Utah atmospheric scientist Tim Garrett, and the setup has been spun off as a separate company, Fallgatter Technologies. Right now, the company's device is documenting snowflakes at Utah's famous Alta ski area.

Scientists in the 1970s also measured snowflakes, but it was by hand, which must have been extremely delicate (and cold) work ? "I knew the guy who did it and he felt he needed to get glasses because of this project," Garrett told LiveScience.

And if the snowflakes in the pictures don't look much like the symmetrical geometric shapes one usually think of (and which were recently captured in stunning fashion by macro photographer Andrew Osokin), that's because most "snowflakes" are actually clumps made up of smaller flakes that have collided or broken apart.

Achieving a better understanding of snowflakes means a better understanding of snowy weather systems. Alta, for example, can use it to gauge the quality of the snow falling, and the Army is planning to use the device to improve its avalanche prediction techniques.

You can watch a live-updating feed of recent snowflakes from Alta, or check the project's highlight page, showing a few outstanding examples of what the system can capture.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/unique-photography-rig-captures-snowflakes-mid-flight-1B8219491

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Placental blood flow can influence malaria during pregnancy

Friday, February 1, 2013

Malaria in pregnancy causes a range of adverse effects, including abortions, stillbirths, premature delivery and low infant birth weight. Many of these effects are thought to derive from a placental inflammatory response resulting from interaction of infected red blood cells with the placental tissue. In a study published in the latest issue of the journal PLOS Pathogen*, a researchers' team led by Carlos Penha-Gon?alves at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci?ncia (IGC), Portugal, observed, for the first time, the mouse placental circulation and showed how it can influence the malaria parasite behavior and infection. Their results indicate a higher accumulation of parasites in placental regions with low blood flow, being these areas more prone to an inflammatory response.

In humans, red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, accumulate in the placenta via interaction with a molecule expressed on the placental tissue ? a process called sequestration. In response to this event, placental cells secrete substances that recruit inflammatory cells leading to placental damage and negatively impacting fetal growth. Until now placental circulation has not been linked to the infected red blood cell sequestration. In fact, it is not trivial to investigate this hypothesis in human placenta, due to technical constraints

Luciana Moraes, an investigator of Carlos Penha-Gon?alves laboratory, has provided new insights to this issue by developing an experimental system that allowed the live observation of the blood flow in the mouse placenta. Mating two strains of mice, one of them with cells stained with a colorful marker, Luciana was able to identify the placental tissue (fetus origin). In collaboration with Carlos Tadokoro's laboratory at the IGC, the investigators developed a microscopy technique that allowed the observation of the placenta in a living mouse. Immediately before exposure to the microscope the mouse was injected with a fluorescent substance that labels the blood. With this set-up it was possible to distinguish maternal blood and placental tissue. The results showed for the first time how the circulation occurs in the placenta, and that the blood flows with different speeds in different regions of the placenta.

Next, the investigators infected red blood cells with the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei, stained with a different color, and observed ? live ? the behavior of the parasite inside the placenta. They observed that in the areas with higher blood flow, the parasite never stops moving and does not interact with the placental tissue. The accumulation of parasite just occurs in areas of low or absence of flow. In these regions, placental macrophages engulf the infected red blood cells to attempt parasite clearance. Their observations also suggest that movements of the placental tissue may control the blood flow.

Luciana Moraes says: "Our results indicate that binding of infected red blood cells to a molecule expressed in the placenta may not be the only mechanism of parasite sequestration. The dynamics of placental circulation may also play an important role, and should be considered when designing therapeutics."

Carlos Penha-Gon?alves adds: "This is the first study done that shows live how placental blood circulation impacts on the local infection by the malaria parasite. It would be interesting and worthwhile to explore if a similar process occurs in the placenta of humans, taking in consideration that microcirculation in human placenta is quite different."

###

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia: http://www.igc.gulbenkian.pt

Thanks to Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia for this article.

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

This press release has been viewed 39 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126589/Placental_blood_flow_can_influence_malaria_during_pregnancy

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Engadget Mobile Podcast 168 - 01.31.13

Wonder why that incessant honking stopped, and why all those folk are suddenly deeply asleep? That's because BlackBerry 10 finally arrived. So guess what, a large scoop of today's Mobile Podcast is about exactly that. But, because we love you, you get more than one scoop. Listen in to find out what the other flavors are.

Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad Molen

Guests: Joseph Volpe, Terrence O'Brien

Producer: James Trew

Music: Tycho - Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)

Hear the podcast

Filed under: Podcasts, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/hu4JnjNg44g/

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On 'Warm Bodies' Set, We Become Undead For The Day

MTV News' Christina Garibaldi transforms into a zombie on film's Montreal set.
By Christina Garibaldi

MTV News' Christina Garibaldi and Nicholas Hoult on the set of "Warm Bodies"
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701189/warm-bodies-set-zombies.jhtml

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Finally get your Nexus 4? We'll help get you started

It looks like Google finally is getting a handle on its Nexus 4 supply/retail issues. Its flagship Jelly Bean phone went back on sale this week and boxes should be hitting doorsteps anytime now. For a good many of you, this will be your first time with the Nexus 4. For others, it'll be the first time with any Nexus.

So where to begin? Even if you've had an Android smartphone in the past, a Nexus is both familiar and new, full of options some other smartphones don't have, while at the same time lacking features other manufacturers pack into their own phones. 

Let's take a look at some of the thing new Nexus 4 owners need to know, need to watch out for -- and need to take advantage of.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Zd46Ay-IkC4/story01.htm

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Will Republicans Move to the Middle on Gay Rights?

President Obama invoking the Stonewall riots in his Inaugural Address. The Boy Scouts considering dropping the ban on openly gay scouts and volunteers. A record number of openly gay and lesbian members elected to Congress in 2012. A gaping generational divide in public opinion on gay marriage.

There?s a seismic shift in cultural opinion that?s taking place at warp speed when it comes to gay rights ? a fact that?s evident simply by looking at the headlines over the last month.? But as the Republican Party tries to moderate its position on immigration, it faces a much more difficult task dealing with an even more polarizing issue where the demographic trend lines are against them.

For many in the Republican Party, the trajectory is now unmistakable. Just as Republican leaders have urged the party to tackle immigration reform in order to appeal to Hispanics, a smaller but equally vocal group of strategists are urging the party to reconsider positions on gay rights to win over younger voters.

In 2012 ? the first presidential election year in which a majority of Americans expressed their support for legalizing same-sex marriage ? gay-marriage advocates scored historic victories on four state ballot initiatives. Public opinion is now on the side of gay-marriage supporters: A December 2012 Gallup poll showed a 53 percent majority of Americans now back same-sex marriage, a 13 point jump since 2008, with a whopping 73 percent between the ages of 18 and 29 supporting it.

?What you?re seeing in the aftermath of the 2012 election cycle is a number of Republicans who are concluding opposition to LGBT rights as it pertains to civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples is not a winning issue politically,? said Gregory T. Angelo, the new executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, the largest GOP gay-rights group. ?There is a sentiment among Republicans that even if they?re opposed to it, there?s political risk in banging the drum.?

Phil Musser, a GOP strategist who advised Tim Pawlenty's?presidential campaign, said the trend lines are clear.

?The future of the Republican Party is dependent on appealing to the millennial generation ? that?s the future ? and attitudes are changing on this issue pretty radically,? Musser said. ?People of good faith can differ on this but having a message that articulates acceptance and tolerance is key.??

But how does the GOP even moderate its stance given its traditional dependence on social conservatives? ?Focusing the broad message of the party on economic growth and economic freedom,? Musser said, ?and not trying to be a referee on social values.?

Last summer?s Republican National Convention illustrated the challenges Republicans face in talking about the issue. For the first time, the Log Cabin Republicans were given the opportunity to participate in the platform-drafting process, lobbying delegates to take out language that could brand the party antigay. But more prominent were the voices of social-conservative organizations, such as the Family Research Council, which ultimately succeeded in including tough measures opposing gay marriage.

Similarly, under their breaths, Republican leaders encouraged GOProud, another Republican gay-rights organization, to have a presence in Tampa, according to Jimmy LaSalvia, the group?s executive director, but in prime time, they were shunted off to the sidelines, given nosebleed seats, and kept out of sight.

LaSalvia is still skeptical that the necessary changes will be undertaken, particularly in reaching out to the LGBT community and moderating the GOP's tone when it comes to discussing marriage equality.?

?There are more and more Republicans who are starting to get it. I?m not convinced yet that enough are willing to make changes that are necessary,? he said. ?They?re not done losing yet.?

It?s difficult for some to imagine a Republican presidential candidate in 2016 openly embracing same-sex marriage and getting past the early caucuses and primaries, which are still driven by party purists, or even an openly gay speaker at the Republican National Convention in 2016.

Slightly easier to envision is GOP candidates adopting the stance that social issues, such as marriage, are best left up to the states ? much like the tactic Mitt Romney used to blunt criticism of the individual mandate in his Massachusetts health care law.

?I think definitely that will work for some people; it?s not going to work for all,? said Craig Robinson, an Iowa-based GOP strategist.

?People need to realize you can?t just say we need to do this, and everybody?s going to do it. There?s 600,000 Republicans in Iowa and we?re never going to agree on everything,? Robinson added. ?It?s a delicate situation for Republicans ? marriage equality has a long way to go before it?s accepted in the party.?

Still, there seem to be signs that movement is happening ? and in some unexpected quarters.?

Newt Gingrich, the same presidential candidate who endorsed the Iowa Family Leader and the National Organization of Marriage?s pledges opposing gay marriage as he attempted to court activists in Iowa last January, recently said in an interview with the Huffington Post that the GOP could no longer close its eyes to the course of public opinion. Gingrich added that an acceptable solution would be to distinguish between "marriage in a church from a legal document issued by the state."

Ken Mehlman, a former Republican National Committee chairman and Bush campaign manager who came out in 2010,?launched a nonprofit called Project Right Side late last year?to make the conservative case for same-sex marriage. He was in Iowa earlier this week meeting with activists and donors to build support.?

And Foster Friess, the mega-wealthy evangelical donor who kept culture warrior extraordinaire Rick Santorum?s campaign afloat in its earlier, leaner days, was recently asked about gay marriage at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast.

?They?re people just like you and I, are we going to come down and penalize them for being gay?? Friess said of the LGBT community. ?I don?t believe the Republican Party should really force any of their members to have one feeling or the other.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-move-middle-gay-rights-124825989--politics.html

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