Lord of the Rings and Lego fans of the world, get ready to sink $200 in the new 2359-piece, 28-inch tall Lego Tower of Orthanc set, which includes six floors: dungeon, entrance hall, Saruman?s throne room, alchemy room, library and the secret attic to which you can access using a secret stair. It's now available for everyone at the Lego shop.
The set also includes a Great Eagle, the pieces to build a postable Ent figure and five minifigs: Saruman, Grima Wormtongue, Gandalf the Grey, one Uruk-hai and the Orc Pitmaster. Lots of cool black pieces in this one. Watch the video to see it all in action. I was surprised to see how big it is. [Lego]
You're reading Leg Godt, the blog with the latest Lego news and the most awesome Lego models in the web. Follow us on Twitter.
IT spend globally -- from devices through to data center investments and the services that run on them -- it set to reach $3.7 trillion in 2013, but that represents shrinking growth of only 2% on 2012, as more expensive items like PCs and on-premise software continue to get pushed out by less expensive, newer things like lower-cost tablets and cloud services. Gartner, the analyst house publishing these numbers today, projects spend for 2014 to rise to $3.9 trillion, up 4.1%.
Do you ever feel like ads are speaking to you? Well, new talking windows ads for Sky Go?a mobile streaming service?literally speak to you using bone conduction technology.
Mapping the benefits of our ecosystemsPublic release date: 1-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jiangxiao Qiu jqiu7@wisc.edu 608-265-8001 University of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON We rely on our physical environment for many things clean water, land for crops or pastures, storm water absorption, and recreation, among others. Yet it has been challenging to figure out how to sustain the many benefits people obtain from nature so-called "ecosystem services" in any given landscape because an improvement in one may come at the cost of another.
Two ecologists at the University of WisconsinMadison report this week (July 1) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences a novel approach to analyzing the production and location of 10 different ecosystem services across a landscape, opening the door to being able to identify factors governing their synergies and tradeoffs.
Monica Turner, the Eugene P. Odum Professor of Zoology, and graduate student Jiangxiao Qiu mapped the production, distribution, and interactions of the services in three main categories: provisioning (providing resources like food, fiber, or fresh water), cultural (such as aesthetics and hunting), and regulating (including improving ground and surface water quality, handling floodwater, preventing erosion, and storing carbon). They focused on the Yahara River watershed, which covers much of central portion of Dane County and parts of Columbia and Rock Counties in southern Wisconsin and includes the chain of Madison lakes.
"We found that the main ecosystem services are not independent of each other. They interact spatially in very complex ways," says Qiu, lead author of the new study.
Some of those interactions were not surprising for example, higher levels of crop production were generally associated with poorer surface and ground water quality. However, two other sets of services showed positive associations: flood regulation, pasture and freshwater supply all went together, as did forest recreation, soil retention, carbon storage and surface water quality.
"If you manage for one of these services, you can probably enhance others, as well," says Turner. "It also means that you can't take a narrow view of the landscape. You have to consider all of the things that it produces for us and recognize that we have to manage it very holistically."
Even in the expected tradeoff between crop production and water quality, the researchers found something unexpected.
"There is a strong tradeoff between crop production and surface and groundwater quality," Qiu says. "But despite this, there are still some locations that can be high for all three services exceptions that can produce high crop yield and good water quality in general."
Preliminary analysis of these "win-win" areas suggests that factors like flat topography, a deep water table, less field runoff, soil with high water-holding capacity, more adjoining wetlands and proximity to streams with riparian vegetation may contribute to maintaining both crop production and good water quality.
The results also show that nearly all of the land in the watershed provides a high level of at least one of the measured services but that they are not uniformly distributed. Most areas offer a high level of just one or two services. But a few, termed "hotspots" and making up just three percent of the watershed (largely parks and protected areas), provide high levels of at least six of the measured services.
"A single piece of land can provide different kinds of services simultaneously but you cannot expect that this land can provide all of the benefits," Qiu says.
The work was undertaken as part of a larger project to improve water sustainability in a mixed urban and agricultural landscape, supported by the Water Sustainability and Climate Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
"This paper is an initial assessment that gives us a picture of the spatial distribution of ecosystem services in contemporary times, a starting point for comparison," says Chris Kucharik, a UWMadison professor of agronomy and environmental studies and principal investigator of the overall NSF project. The project aims to use a combination of contemporary and historical data to understand how the watershed may change over the next 50 to 60 years.
"We ultimately want to be able to look at future scenarios for this watershed," Turner says. "If climate changes or land use changes, what's going to happen to the values that we care about?"
###
-- Jill Sakai 608-262-9772 jasakai@wisc.edu
CONTACT:
Jiangxiao Qiu (608) 265-8001 jqiu7@wisc.edu
Chris Kucharik (608) 890-3021 or (608) 263-1859 kucharik@wisc.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Mapping the benefits of our ecosystemsPublic release date: 1-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jiangxiao Qiu jqiu7@wisc.edu 608-265-8001 University of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON We rely on our physical environment for many things clean water, land for crops or pastures, storm water absorption, and recreation, among others. Yet it has been challenging to figure out how to sustain the many benefits people obtain from nature so-called "ecosystem services" in any given landscape because an improvement in one may come at the cost of another.
Two ecologists at the University of WisconsinMadison report this week (July 1) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences a novel approach to analyzing the production and location of 10 different ecosystem services across a landscape, opening the door to being able to identify factors governing their synergies and tradeoffs.
Monica Turner, the Eugene P. Odum Professor of Zoology, and graduate student Jiangxiao Qiu mapped the production, distribution, and interactions of the services in three main categories: provisioning (providing resources like food, fiber, or fresh water), cultural (such as aesthetics and hunting), and regulating (including improving ground and surface water quality, handling floodwater, preventing erosion, and storing carbon). They focused on the Yahara River watershed, which covers much of central portion of Dane County and parts of Columbia and Rock Counties in southern Wisconsin and includes the chain of Madison lakes.
"We found that the main ecosystem services are not independent of each other. They interact spatially in very complex ways," says Qiu, lead author of the new study.
Some of those interactions were not surprising for example, higher levels of crop production were generally associated with poorer surface and ground water quality. However, two other sets of services showed positive associations: flood regulation, pasture and freshwater supply all went together, as did forest recreation, soil retention, carbon storage and surface water quality.
"If you manage for one of these services, you can probably enhance others, as well," says Turner. "It also means that you can't take a narrow view of the landscape. You have to consider all of the things that it produces for us and recognize that we have to manage it very holistically."
Even in the expected tradeoff between crop production and water quality, the researchers found something unexpected.
"There is a strong tradeoff between crop production and surface and groundwater quality," Qiu says. "But despite this, there are still some locations that can be high for all three services exceptions that can produce high crop yield and good water quality in general."
Preliminary analysis of these "win-win" areas suggests that factors like flat topography, a deep water table, less field runoff, soil with high water-holding capacity, more adjoining wetlands and proximity to streams with riparian vegetation may contribute to maintaining both crop production and good water quality.
The results also show that nearly all of the land in the watershed provides a high level of at least one of the measured services but that they are not uniformly distributed. Most areas offer a high level of just one or two services. But a few, termed "hotspots" and making up just three percent of the watershed (largely parks and protected areas), provide high levels of at least six of the measured services.
"A single piece of land can provide different kinds of services simultaneously but you cannot expect that this land can provide all of the benefits," Qiu says.
The work was undertaken as part of a larger project to improve water sustainability in a mixed urban and agricultural landscape, supported by the Water Sustainability and Climate Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
"This paper is an initial assessment that gives us a picture of the spatial distribution of ecosystem services in contemporary times, a starting point for comparison," says Chris Kucharik, a UWMadison professor of agronomy and environmental studies and principal investigator of the overall NSF project. The project aims to use a combination of contemporary and historical data to understand how the watershed may change over the next 50 to 60 years.
"We ultimately want to be able to look at future scenarios for this watershed," Turner says. "If climate changes or land use changes, what's going to happen to the values that we care about?"
###
-- Jill Sakai 608-262-9772 jasakai@wisc.edu
CONTACT:
Jiangxiao Qiu (608) 265-8001 jqiu7@wisc.edu
Chris Kucharik (608) 890-3021 or (608) 263-1859 kucharik@wisc.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Brain differences seen in depressed preschoolersPublic release date: 1-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Dryden jdryden@wustl.edu 314-286-0110 Washington University School of Medicine
A key brain structure that regulates emotions works differently in preschoolers with depression compared with their healthy peers, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The differences, measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), provide the earliest evidence yet of changes in brain function in young children with depression. The researchers say the findings could lead to ways to identify and treat depressed children earlier in the course of the illness, potentially preventing problems later in life.
"The findings really hammer home that these kids are suffering from a very real disorder that requires treatment," said lead author Michael S. Gaffrey, PhD. "We believe this study demonstrates that there are differences in the brains of these very young children and that they may mark the beginnings of a lifelong problem."
The study is published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Depressed preschoolers had elevated activity in the brain's amygdala, an almond-shaped set of neurons important in processing emotions. Earlier imaging studies identified similar changes in the amygdala region in adults, adolescents and older children with depression, but none had looked at preschoolers with depression.
For the new study, scientists from Washington University's Early Emotional Development Program studied 54 children ages 4 to 6. Before the study began, 23 of those kids had been diagnosed with depression. The other 31 had not. None of the children in the study had taken antidepressant medication.
Although studies using fMRI to measure brain activity by monitoring blood flow have been used for years, this is the first time that such scans have been attempted in children this young with depression. Movements as small as a few millimeters can ruin fMRI data, so Gaffrey and his colleagues had the children participate in mock scans first. After practicing, the children in this study moved less than a millimeter on average during their actual scans.
While they were in the fMRI scanner during the study, the children looked at pictures of people whose facial expressions conveyed particular emotions. There were faces with happy, sad, fearful and neutral expressions.
"The amygdala region showed elevated activity when the depressed children viewed pictures of people's faces," said Gaffrey, an assistant professor of psychiatry. "We saw the same elevated activity, regardless of the type of faces the children were shown. So it wasn't that they reacted only to sad faces or to happy faces, but every face they saw aroused activity in the amygdala."
Looking at pictures of faces often is used in studies of adults and older children with depression to measure activity in the amygdala. But the observations in the depressed preschoolers were somewhat different than those previously seen in adults, where typically the amygdala responds more to negative expressions of emotion, such as sad or fearful faces, than to faces expressing happiness or no emotion.
In the preschoolers with depression, all facial expressions were associated with greater amygdala activity when compared with their healthy peers.
Gaffrey said it's possible depression affects the amygdala mainly by exaggerating what, in other children, is a normal amygdala response to both positive and negative facial expressions of emotion. But more research will be needed to prove that. He does believe, however, that the amygdala's reaction to people's faces can be seen in a larger context.
"Not only did we find elevated amygdala activity during face viewing in children with depression, but that greater activity in the amygdala also was associated with parents reporting more sadness and emotion regulation difficulties in their children," Gaffrey said. "Taken together, that suggests we may be seeing an exaggeration of a normal developmental response in the brain and that, hopefully, with proper prevention or treatment, we may be able to get these kids back on track."
###
Funding for this study comes from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It also was supported by the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation and the Communities Healing Adolescent Depression and Suicide (CHADS) Coalition for Mental Health. NIH Grant number K23 MH098176.
Gaffrey MS, Barch DM, Singer J, Shenoy R, Luby JL. Disrupted amygdala reactivity in depressed 4- to 6-year-old children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry vol. 52 (7), pp. 737-746, July 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Brain differences seen in depressed preschoolersPublic release date: 1-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Dryden jdryden@wustl.edu 314-286-0110 Washington University School of Medicine
A key brain structure that regulates emotions works differently in preschoolers with depression compared with their healthy peers, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The differences, measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), provide the earliest evidence yet of changes in brain function in young children with depression. The researchers say the findings could lead to ways to identify and treat depressed children earlier in the course of the illness, potentially preventing problems later in life.
"The findings really hammer home that these kids are suffering from a very real disorder that requires treatment," said lead author Michael S. Gaffrey, PhD. "We believe this study demonstrates that there are differences in the brains of these very young children and that they may mark the beginnings of a lifelong problem."
The study is published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Depressed preschoolers had elevated activity in the brain's amygdala, an almond-shaped set of neurons important in processing emotions. Earlier imaging studies identified similar changes in the amygdala region in adults, adolescents and older children with depression, but none had looked at preschoolers with depression.
For the new study, scientists from Washington University's Early Emotional Development Program studied 54 children ages 4 to 6. Before the study began, 23 of those kids had been diagnosed with depression. The other 31 had not. None of the children in the study had taken antidepressant medication.
Although studies using fMRI to measure brain activity by monitoring blood flow have been used for years, this is the first time that such scans have been attempted in children this young with depression. Movements as small as a few millimeters can ruin fMRI data, so Gaffrey and his colleagues had the children participate in mock scans first. After practicing, the children in this study moved less than a millimeter on average during their actual scans.
While they were in the fMRI scanner during the study, the children looked at pictures of people whose facial expressions conveyed particular emotions. There were faces with happy, sad, fearful and neutral expressions.
"The amygdala region showed elevated activity when the depressed children viewed pictures of people's faces," said Gaffrey, an assistant professor of psychiatry. "We saw the same elevated activity, regardless of the type of faces the children were shown. So it wasn't that they reacted only to sad faces or to happy faces, but every face they saw aroused activity in the amygdala."
Looking at pictures of faces often is used in studies of adults and older children with depression to measure activity in the amygdala. But the observations in the depressed preschoolers were somewhat different than those previously seen in adults, where typically the amygdala responds more to negative expressions of emotion, such as sad or fearful faces, than to faces expressing happiness or no emotion.
In the preschoolers with depression, all facial expressions were associated with greater amygdala activity when compared with their healthy peers.
Gaffrey said it's possible depression affects the amygdala mainly by exaggerating what, in other children, is a normal amygdala response to both positive and negative facial expressions of emotion. But more research will be needed to prove that. He does believe, however, that the amygdala's reaction to people's faces can be seen in a larger context.
"Not only did we find elevated amygdala activity during face viewing in children with depression, but that greater activity in the amygdala also was associated with parents reporting more sadness and emotion regulation difficulties in their children," Gaffrey said. "Taken together, that suggests we may be seeing an exaggeration of a normal developmental response in the brain and that, hopefully, with proper prevention or treatment, we may be able to get these kids back on track."
###
Funding for this study comes from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It also was supported by the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation and the Communities Healing Adolescent Depression and Suicide (CHADS) Coalition for Mental Health. NIH Grant number K23 MH098176.
Gaffrey MS, Barch DM, Singer J, Shenoy R, Luby JL. Disrupted amygdala reactivity in depressed 4- to 6-year-old children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry vol. 52 (7), pp. 737-746, July 2013.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Less than 20 months after the debut of the first Cirque du Soliel show paying tribute Michael Jackson comes the second: "Michael Jackson ONE"
Cirque president Daniel Lamarre said he'd planned two Jackson-inspired shows "from the first day we got the rights from the (Jackson) estate," with the first production, "Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL WORLD TOUR," delivering a stadium-sized concert-type presentation and "ONE" a more intimate affair.
The new show is something closer to what Cirque du Soliel usually serves up. It's a multimedia extravaganza that often flies high, but never loses sight of its inspiration.
Saturday's world premiere attracted celebrities including musician Justin Bieber, as well as actors Neil Patrick Harris, Allison Janney and Alfre Woodard.
Also in attendance were Michael Jackson's brothers Marlon, Tito and Jackie, the latter noting during arrivals that most of the Jackson family would be inside the theater for the premiere except for Michael's daughter, Paris. The teen was taken by ambulance from her family's home June 5 and hospitalized.
"She's going to be OK," Jackie Jackson said. "She's getting better."
The brothers said even less when asked about the progress of the lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live. The family claims the company hired Conrad Murray, the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Michael Jackson's 2009 death.
"We can't elaborate on that, because it's still ongoing," replied Marlon Jackson.
Following a dramatic week of courtroom testimony surrounding Michael Jackson's final days, the brothers seemed relieved to be revisiting Michael's life and work.
"ONE" ''is all about the music" said Marlon Jackson. "This is part of giving back and sharing his legacy."
"ONE" also gives Cirque another crack at producing the ultimate Michael Jackson tribute show.
Some heavyweight media outlets gave "IMMORTAL" lukewarm reviews (The Hollywood Reporter, and the Los Angeles Times among them). And even Cirque president Lamarre admitted the production was being "tweaked" throughout its North American run.
"ONE" director Jamie King commented, "I think the questions with ('IMMORTAL') was, 'Was there enough Cirque? Was there enough Michael?' There's where the confusion (was)."
"ONE" is very different," explained Lamarre. "It's a total immersion. So, people are going to dive into the universe of Michael Jackson."
Despite mixed reviews and initial production problems, "IMMORTAL" was a box-office smash. According to Forbes, it was the highest-grossing tour in the United States in 2011 and the second-highest in 2012. By the time it traveled overseas, Lamarre said, "IMMORTAL" was greatly improved and, "I cannot wait to bring back 'IMMORTAL' (to North America) for people to realize how good a show it is now."
___
Online:
cirquedusoleil.com/Michael_Jackson
___
Follow Michael Cidoni Lennox at http://www.twitter.com/MikeCLennox
IT spend globally -- from devices through to data center investments and the services that run on them -- it set to reach $3.7 trillion in 2013, but that represents shrinking growth of only 2% on 2012, as more expensive items like PCs and on-premise software continue to get pushed out by less expensive, newer things like lower-cost tablets and cloud services. 
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Public release date: 1-Jul-2013
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