Introducing Maxthon Cloud Browser for Windows Phone
New Windows Phone Browser Brings Unmatched Ease of Use, High Performance and Exclusive Features
EMBARGOED: San Francisco, CA, October 21, 2013 – Maxthon, a global software company that develops state-of-the-art web browsers, today announced the availability of its leading Cloud Browser for Windows Phones. Maxthon for Windows Phone will offer the same out of box experience, ease of use, high performance and faster speeds that have come to be expected of all Maxthon products.
"With mobile devices becoming the first screen for most of the world's population, we here at Maxthon understood the importance of making our leading cloud browser available on all mobile platforms," said Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon. "We listened to our users and developed a Windows Phone browser with unmatched features and usability to bring the best browsing experience to all Windows Phone users."
The Maxthon Cloud Browser takes the mobile browsing experience on Windows Phones to new heights with function and features including:
Cloud services with multi-device support: Users can sign in with a free Maxthon Passport account and sync their favorites online, and to other devices using the Maxthon Cloud Browser on Android, iOS, Windows and Mac
Ease of use with (patent-pending) implementation of tabs: Maxthon for Windows Phone's tab navigation allows users to swipe up and down to go forward and backward in browsing history, which no other Windows Phone browser offers
Favorites optimized for mobile touch screens: Users can add, change and access favorites in a more intuitive and easier to use way than any other Windows Phone browser
Live tiles in Quick Access: Maxthon has taken its "Quick Access" feature and reinvented it for Windows Phone with fun animation that makes it easier to use Quick Access
Pop-up address bar: Users can access search and the address bar when they want it, with a simple gesture that causes them to pop up
"Windows Phone is gaining prominence worldwide, and its users deserve a browser that better serves their wants and needs," said Karl Mattson, VP of Maxthon's International Efforts. "We're always looking to offer new ways to browse the web faster and more easily. We're excited to bring that to the Windows Phone platform."
About Maxthon Maxthon is an innovative software company that develops superior web browsers that continue to set new standards for speed, security, simplicity and cloud features. It is available on the Windows, Android, iOS and Mac platforms. With offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Maxthon reaches a global community of users that tops more than 120,000,000 people each month in more than 150 countries. Click here for more information about Maxthon
If there's any U.S. city whose citizens are likely to use technology to alleviate a transit strike, San Francisco is it. On Monday, ride-sharing and car-hailing services, many fueled by smartphone apps, reported increased use after a strike halted America's fifth-largest light rail system, the Bay Area Rapid Transit.
The strike, which is over pay, benefits and work conditions, began on Friday morning, though the full effects weren't felt until the Monday morning commute.
BART is a vital commuter link between San Francisco and communities on the east side of the San Francisco Bay, including the city of Oakland. With no trains, the roads were the only alternative for many people.
Sidecar, one of several services that allow riders to hail private cars via an app, said Monday was a record morning for shared rides across the Bay Bridge, which connects Oakland and San Francisco.
"It was busiest second only to the last BART strike," said Margaret Ryan, a spokeswoman for the company. She was referring to a strike in July this year that ended when BART and union workers agreed to talk out their differences. Those talks broke down last week, leading to the current strike.
"We also saw a spike in ride requests this morning, with requests nearly double the previous Monday," she said.
Uber, a rival, said demand for rides was up but declined to offer more specific information. Lyft, another competitor, did not respond to a request for comment.
The strike is also proving a boon to drivers who are willing to carpool.
So-called "casual carpools" have existed for years for the morning journey across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and the evening journey back. On Monday, drivers were being enticed with a $5 prepaid card for coffee in addition to the usual benefit of getting to use the high-occupancy vehicle lane for a quicker trip across the bridge.
Car.ma, a new entrant to the region's ride-sharing market, is trying to fill seats on regular commutes. Drivers enter details of their commute into the Car.ma app so riders can find people heading in the same direction.
"We had an average 800 percent increase in ride searches this morning," said Paul Steinberg, Car.ma's vice president of business development.
The average commute of a Car.ma driver is 26 miles (42 kilometers), which is very different from the shorter cross-town trips typical of its rivals, said Steinberg. The service focus is on drivers making longer commute journeys, especially from outlying cities in the area that have BART service.
Car.ma is part of a federally funded ride-sharing program, so the amount of money involved is different, too.
Riders pay 20 cents per mile, of which drivers receive 17 cents, and drivers are capped by tax laws at earning more than 56.5 cents per mile. For passengers, it means a much cheaper ride than would be possible on other ride-sharing services, and drivers still get to cover their gasoline.
Steinberg estimates Car.ma drivers took about 250 people across the Bay Bridge on Monday morning. The company is offering $25 to drivers heading to San Francisco who are willing to pick up riders in Walnut Creek, a city toward the end of the BART system. Drivers this week also get entered into a competition to win the use of a Tesla all-electric vehicle next week.
Sidecar, the car-hailing service, is starting to offer a similar service for drivers making a pre-planned trip. A new matching algorithm has been introduced so riders can be more quickly matched with drivers heading to the same approximate area.
"We've asked all of our East Bay drivers to turn on their driver app whenever they commute, so that they can help commuters get into and out of the city, and we've seen a 50 percent increase in drivers online," Ryan said.
Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service , IDG News Service
Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. More by Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Research offers new insight in quest for single vaccine against multiple influenza strains
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
20-Oct-2013
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Contact: Carrie Strehlau carrie.strehlau@stjude.org 901-595-2295 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
A study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital identifies new path to a universal influenza vaccine emphasizing production of broadly specific antibodies that target multiple flu viruses
(MEMPHIS, Tenn. October 20, 2013) A study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists highlights a new approach for developing a universal influenza vaccine that could protect against multiple flu strains, including deadly pandemic strains. The research appears today in the advance online edition of the scientific journal Nature Immunology.
Researchers used the immune suppressing drug rapamycin to shift the immune response following flu vaccination to favor production of antibodies that broadly target flu viruses. The result was a more diverse antibody response to the vaccination that expanded protection to include pandemic strains not targeted by the vaccine. Vaccination is the most effective strategy against flu, particularly the pandemic strains that emerge periodically, but efforts to develop a single, universal vaccine against all flu strains have been unsuccessful.
The findings highlight a novel way to generate antibodies that recognize and target proteins shared by most influenza A strains rather than those unique to each strain. Antibodies are produced by B cells to recognize and defend against viruses. The same strategy might aid efforts to design vaccines against other viruses, researchers said.
Current flu vaccines emphasize production of highly specific antibodies. They target and bind tightly to strain-specific regions of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) proteins on the virus. That approach requires developing and administering a new flu vaccine each year to keep up with changes in those unique and highly variable HA and NA proteins.
Investigators showed the new strategy protected mice vaccinated against the H3N2 influenza A flu strain, which causes mild disease from succumbing to the more dangerous H5N1 and H7N9 strains weeks later. When researchers transferred antibody-rich serum from vaccinated to unvaccinated mice, the unvaccinated animals were also protected from later H5N1 infection, an indication that the protection came from antibodies rather than from other immune system components.
"This study has changed our approach to developing a universal flu vaccine," said corresponding author Maureen McGargill, Ph.D., an assistant member of the St. Jude Department of Immunology. "Instead of trying to enhance a highly specific, targeted immune response, our results show that a more diverse, less focused response provides a broader repertoire of antibodies that target different flu strains."
Influenza particularly pandemic strains that emerge periodically as flu viruses mix and form novel strains remains a global health threat. The influenza A H5N1 avian pandemic strain has a mortality rate of nearly 60 percent. The World Health Organization estimates that each year flu and flu-related complications kill more than 250,000 individuals worldwide. Vaccination is the most effective strategy to combat the infection. But existing vaccines protect against just the dominant seasonal flu strain and not emerging flu strains.
This study also advanced understanding of the role a protein named mTOR plays in generating the highly specific antibodies. Rapamycin works by inhibiting mTOR, which is involved in cell survival and proliferation. Researchers used the drug to track how blocking mTOR affected the immune response of mice following H3N2 vaccination.
Inhibiting mTOR disrupted generation of the antibodies that target specific regions of the HA proteins that are unique to each flu strain. Researchers showed that loss of mTOR delayed the formation of the immune structure called a germinal center. That is where antibodies are reshaped through a process called class switching. The process hones their focus and primes them to target flu viruses based on the unique, rather than shared, surface proteins.
The finding was surprising because previous research had highlighted a likely role for white blood cells known as CD8+ and CD4+ memory T cells for broadening the immune response against different flu strains. Unlike antibodies, the T cells recognize flu viruses based on shared internal proteins. The T cells reduce flu-related complications by eliminating flu-infected cells and speeding the virus' clearance from the body. In addition, rapamycin was known to increase the number of memory CD8+ T cells.
McGargill and her colleagues showed that memory CD8+ T cells were not required for enhanced protection in rapamycin-treated mice following vaccination and that the CD4+ cells played an indirect role. "This led us to the B-cell response and evidence that the cross-reactive antibodies provide crucial protection against different flu strains," said first author Rachael Keating, Ph.D., a St. Jude scientist.
###
The other authors are Tomer Hertz, Zachary Wilson and Philip Bradley, all of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle; and Marie Wehenkel, Tarsha Harris, Benjamin Edwards, Jennifer McClaren, Scott Brown, Sherri Surman, Julia Hurwitz, Hongbo Chi, Peter Doherty and Paul Thomas, all of St. Jude.
The research was funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services and ALSAC.
St. Jude Media Relations Contacts
Carrie Strehlau
(desk) (901) 595-2295
(cell) (901) 297-9875
carrie.strehlau@stjude.org
Summer Freeman
(desk) (901) 595-3061
(cell) (901) 297-9861
summer.freeman@stjude.org
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Research offers new insight in quest for single vaccine against multiple influenza strains
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
20-Oct-2013
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Contact: Carrie Strehlau carrie.strehlau@stjude.org 901-595-2295 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
A study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital identifies new path to a universal influenza vaccine emphasizing production of broadly specific antibodies that target multiple flu viruses
(MEMPHIS, Tenn. October 20, 2013) A study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists highlights a new approach for developing a universal influenza vaccine that could protect against multiple flu strains, including deadly pandemic strains. The research appears today in the advance online edition of the scientific journal Nature Immunology.
Researchers used the immune suppressing drug rapamycin to shift the immune response following flu vaccination to favor production of antibodies that broadly target flu viruses. The result was a more diverse antibody response to the vaccination that expanded protection to include pandemic strains not targeted by the vaccine. Vaccination is the most effective strategy against flu, particularly the pandemic strains that emerge periodically, but efforts to develop a single, universal vaccine against all flu strains have been unsuccessful.
The findings highlight a novel way to generate antibodies that recognize and target proteins shared by most influenza A strains rather than those unique to each strain. Antibodies are produced by B cells to recognize and defend against viruses. The same strategy might aid efforts to design vaccines against other viruses, researchers said.
Current flu vaccines emphasize production of highly specific antibodies. They target and bind tightly to strain-specific regions of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) proteins on the virus. That approach requires developing and administering a new flu vaccine each year to keep up with changes in those unique and highly variable HA and NA proteins.
Investigators showed the new strategy protected mice vaccinated against the H3N2 influenza A flu strain, which causes mild disease from succumbing to the more dangerous H5N1 and H7N9 strains weeks later. When researchers transferred antibody-rich serum from vaccinated to unvaccinated mice, the unvaccinated animals were also protected from later H5N1 infection, an indication that the protection came from antibodies rather than from other immune system components.
"This study has changed our approach to developing a universal flu vaccine," said corresponding author Maureen McGargill, Ph.D., an assistant member of the St. Jude Department of Immunology. "Instead of trying to enhance a highly specific, targeted immune response, our results show that a more diverse, less focused response provides a broader repertoire of antibodies that target different flu strains."
Influenza particularly pandemic strains that emerge periodically as flu viruses mix and form novel strains remains a global health threat. The influenza A H5N1 avian pandemic strain has a mortality rate of nearly 60 percent. The World Health Organization estimates that each year flu and flu-related complications kill more than 250,000 individuals worldwide. Vaccination is the most effective strategy to combat the infection. But existing vaccines protect against just the dominant seasonal flu strain and not emerging flu strains.
This study also advanced understanding of the role a protein named mTOR plays in generating the highly specific antibodies. Rapamycin works by inhibiting mTOR, which is involved in cell survival and proliferation. Researchers used the drug to track how blocking mTOR affected the immune response of mice following H3N2 vaccination.
Inhibiting mTOR disrupted generation of the antibodies that target specific regions of the HA proteins that are unique to each flu strain. Researchers showed that loss of mTOR delayed the formation of the immune structure called a germinal center. That is where antibodies are reshaped through a process called class switching. The process hones their focus and primes them to target flu viruses based on the unique, rather than shared, surface proteins.
The finding was surprising because previous research had highlighted a likely role for white blood cells known as CD8+ and CD4+ memory T cells for broadening the immune response against different flu strains. Unlike antibodies, the T cells recognize flu viruses based on shared internal proteins. The T cells reduce flu-related complications by eliminating flu-infected cells and speeding the virus' clearance from the body. In addition, rapamycin was known to increase the number of memory CD8+ T cells.
McGargill and her colleagues showed that memory CD8+ T cells were not required for enhanced protection in rapamycin-treated mice following vaccination and that the CD4+ cells played an indirect role. "This led us to the B-cell response and evidence that the cross-reactive antibodies provide crucial protection against different flu strains," said first author Rachael Keating, Ph.D., a St. Jude scientist.
###
The other authors are Tomer Hertz, Zachary Wilson and Philip Bradley, all of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle; and Marie Wehenkel, Tarsha Harris, Benjamin Edwards, Jennifer McClaren, Scott Brown, Sherri Surman, Julia Hurwitz, Hongbo Chi, Peter Doherty and Paul Thomas, all of St. Jude.
The research was funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services and ALSAC.
St. Jude Media Relations Contacts
Carrie Strehlau
(desk) (901) 595-2295
(cell) (901) 297-9875
carrie.strehlau@stjude.org
Summer Freeman
(desk) (901) 595-3061
(cell) (901) 297-9861
summer.freeman@stjude.org
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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.
It's time to buy some tickets and put on your theater best because James Franco has officially confirmed that he will be starring in Broadway's Of Mice and Men revival as the George to Chris O'Dowd's Lennie.
"I am going to do a play on Broadway," Franco revealed at Live Talks with James Franco at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, Calif. on Oct. 20. "I am going to do Of Mice And Men with Chris O' Dowd, directed by this amazing director, Anna Shapiro, who won a Tony for the stage version of August: Osage County. So that will be my Broadway debut."
In the play, based of the iconic John Steinbeck novel of the same name, George is a smart migrant worker who helps his large but mentally challenged friend Lennie through the Great Depression in California.
Franco, 35, doesn't seem anxious to take on this iconic role, but did admit that his previous performances have defined the public's views of him.
"As an actor, you are perceived through your roles. People read into you," he said during the live Q&A. "Everyone thinks I'm a pothead. A lot of people think I'm gay. A lot of kids come up to me and say, 'wow, your arm grew back.' So you're perceived through your characters. You're perceived through your interviews."
The Oscar-nominated actor has more than 10 film projects in the works, including his role as an evil meth cooker named Gator in the movie Homefront costarring Jason Statham, Wynona Ryder, and Kate Bosworth.
But the Broadway rookie -- who also has a series of academic degrees and just published the book Actors Anonymous -- is also looking even more into the theatre than just his upcoming acting role.
"As far as writing a play, I have this idea, I haven't been able to figure it out yet," he revealed. "I've done little versions of it, but I wanted to do a dramatic version of Three's Company. Those characters, the way it's so dated, and somehow, make it a drama. So, that's what I'd like to do. I know somebody's gonna steal that idea, but I get to meet with the Three's Company people so you don't have the rights to."
Tell Us: Do you think James Franco will do a good job on Broadway?
Risk of Amazon rainforest dieback is higher than IPCC projects
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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Contact: Marc Airhart mairhart@jsg.utexas.edu 512-471-2241 University of Texas at Austin
A new study suggests the southern portion of the Amazon rainforest is at a much higher risk of dieback due to stronger seasonal drying than projections made by the climate models used in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). If severe enough, the loss of rainforest could cause the release of large volumes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It could also disrupt plant and animal communities in one of the regions of highest biodiversity in the world.
Using ground-based rainfall measurements from the past three decades, a research team led by Rong Fu, professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, found that since 1979, the dry season in southern Amazonia has lasted about a week longer per decade. At the same time, the annual fire season has become longer. The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season is global warming.
"The dry season over the southern Amazon is already marginal for maintaining rainforest," says Fu. "At some point, if it becomes too long, the rainforest will reach a tipping point."
The new results are in stark contrast to forecasts made by climate models used by the IPCC. Even under future scenarios in which atmospheric greenhouse gases rise dramatically, the models project the dry season in the southern Amazon to be only a few to 10 days longer by the end of the century, and therefore the risk of climate change-induced rainforest dieback should be relatively low.
The report appears this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The length of the dry season in the southern Amazon is the most important climate condition controlling the rainforest," says Fu. "If the dry season is too long, the rainforest will not survive."
To see why the length of the dry season is such a limiting factor, imagine there is heavier than usual rainfall during the wet season. The soil can only hold so much water and the rest runs off. The water stored in the soil at the end of the wet season is all that the rainforest trees have to last them through the dry season. The longer the dry season lasts, regardless of how wet the wet season was, the more stressed the trees become and the more susceptible they are to fire.
The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season in the southern Amazon in recent decades is human-caused greenhouse warming, which inhibits rainfall in two ways. First, it makes it harder for warm, dry air near the surface to rise and freely mix with cool, moist air above. And second, it blocks cold front incursions from outside the tropics that could trigger rainfall. The climate models used by the IPCC do a poor job representing these processes, which might explain why they project only a slightly longer Amazonian dry season, says Fu.
The Amazon rainforest normally removes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but during a severe drought in 2005, it released 1 petagram of carbon (about one-tenth of annual human emissions) to the atmosphere. Fu and her colleagues estimate that if dry seasons continue to lengthen at just half the rate of recent decades, the Amazon drought of 2005 could become the norm rather than the exception by the end of this century.
"Because of the potential impact on the global carbon cycle, we need to better understand the changes of the dry season over southern Amazonia," says Fu.
Some scientists have speculated that the combination of longer dry seasons, higher surface temperatures and more fragmented forests resulting from ongoing human-caused deforestation could eventually convert much of southern Amazonia from rainforest to savanna.
Earlier studies have shown that human-caused deforestation in the Amazon can alter rainfall patterns. But the researchers didn't see a strong signal of deforestation in the pattern of increasing dry season length. The dry season length increase was most pronounced in the southwestern Amazon while the most intense deforestation occurred in the southeastern Amazon.
Because the northwestern Amazon has much higher rainfall and a shorter dry season than the southern Amazon, Fu and others think it is much less vulnerable to climate change.
###
Fu's co-authors at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences are Lei Yin, Robert Dickinson, Lei Huang and Sudip Chakraborty. The team also includes Wenhong Li at Duke University; Paola A. Arias at Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia; Ktia Fernandes at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society; Brant Liebmann at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Rosie Fisher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research; and Ranga Myneni at Boston University.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS 0937400) and the NOAA Climate Program Office Modeling, Analysis, Prediction and Projection Program (NA10OAAR4310157).
The University of Texas at Austin is committed to transparency and disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest of its researchers. The university is not aware of any conflicts of interest for any of the team members.
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Risk of Amazon rainforest dieback is higher than IPCC projects
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
21-Oct-2013
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Contact: Marc Airhart mairhart@jsg.utexas.edu 512-471-2241 University of Texas at Austin
A new study suggests the southern portion of the Amazon rainforest is at a much higher risk of dieback due to stronger seasonal drying than projections made by the climate models used in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). If severe enough, the loss of rainforest could cause the release of large volumes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It could also disrupt plant and animal communities in one of the regions of highest biodiversity in the world.
Using ground-based rainfall measurements from the past three decades, a research team led by Rong Fu, professor at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, found that since 1979, the dry season in southern Amazonia has lasted about a week longer per decade. At the same time, the annual fire season has become longer. The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season is global warming.
"The dry season over the southern Amazon is already marginal for maintaining rainforest," says Fu. "At some point, if it becomes too long, the rainforest will reach a tipping point."
The new results are in stark contrast to forecasts made by climate models used by the IPCC. Even under future scenarios in which atmospheric greenhouse gases rise dramatically, the models project the dry season in the southern Amazon to be only a few to 10 days longer by the end of the century, and therefore the risk of climate change-induced rainforest dieback should be relatively low.
The report appears this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The length of the dry season in the southern Amazon is the most important climate condition controlling the rainforest," says Fu. "If the dry season is too long, the rainforest will not survive."
To see why the length of the dry season is such a limiting factor, imagine there is heavier than usual rainfall during the wet season. The soil can only hold so much water and the rest runs off. The water stored in the soil at the end of the wet season is all that the rainforest trees have to last them through the dry season. The longer the dry season lasts, regardless of how wet the wet season was, the more stressed the trees become and the more susceptible they are to fire.
The researchers say the most likely explanation for the lengthening dry season in the southern Amazon in recent decades is human-caused greenhouse warming, which inhibits rainfall in two ways. First, it makes it harder for warm, dry air near the surface to rise and freely mix with cool, moist air above. And second, it blocks cold front incursions from outside the tropics that could trigger rainfall. The climate models used by the IPCC do a poor job representing these processes, which might explain why they project only a slightly longer Amazonian dry season, says Fu.
The Amazon rainforest normally removes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but during a severe drought in 2005, it released 1 petagram of carbon (about one-tenth of annual human emissions) to the atmosphere. Fu and her colleagues estimate that if dry seasons continue to lengthen at just half the rate of recent decades, the Amazon drought of 2005 could become the norm rather than the exception by the end of this century.
"Because of the potential impact on the global carbon cycle, we need to better understand the changes of the dry season over southern Amazonia," says Fu.
Some scientists have speculated that the combination of longer dry seasons, higher surface temperatures and more fragmented forests resulting from ongoing human-caused deforestation could eventually convert much of southern Amazonia from rainforest to savanna.
Earlier studies have shown that human-caused deforestation in the Amazon can alter rainfall patterns. But the researchers didn't see a strong signal of deforestation in the pattern of increasing dry season length. The dry season length increase was most pronounced in the southwestern Amazon while the most intense deforestation occurred in the southeastern Amazon.
Because the northwestern Amazon has much higher rainfall and a shorter dry season than the southern Amazon, Fu and others think it is much less vulnerable to climate change.
###
Fu's co-authors at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences are Lei Yin, Robert Dickinson, Lei Huang and Sudip Chakraborty. The team also includes Wenhong Li at Duke University; Paola A. Arias at Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia; Ktia Fernandes at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society; Brant Liebmann at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Rosie Fisher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research; and Ranga Myneni at Boston University.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (AGS 0937400) and the NOAA Climate Program Office Modeling, Analysis, Prediction and Projection Program (NA10OAAR4310157).
The University of Texas at Austin is committed to transparency and disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest of its researchers. The university is not aware of any conflicts of interest for any of the team members.
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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.
We're soooo often carried away with how lovely Liam Payne looks sans shirt or how seXXXy Harry Styles is when his delicious dong is dangling out of his pants, that we forget about where it all began!!!
The music! The marvelous, magnificent music! That's what REALLY makes them beautiful!
Well, One Direction latest single is Story of My Life and it should remind us all how truly talented these boys are!!!
Ch-ch-check out an AMAZEBALLZ clip from the song (above)!
ZOMG!!!! Brilliant! We can't wait to hear the whole thing!
And, you know, if Harry's peen makes an another appearance in the meanwhile, that's OK, too, LOLz!!
LONDON (AP) — Britain has agreed to build the country's first nuclear power plant in a generation, ignoring concerns raised by the Fukushima meltdown in Japan as the U.K. seeks to secure its future energy needs and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The government struck a deal with Electricite de France and a group of Chinese investors Monday to build the country's first nuclear power plant since 1995 — a massive project that will bring in 16 billion pounds ($25.9 billion) of investment to keep the lights on amid declining supplies of North Sea gas and rapidly escalating fuel costs.
"If people at home want to be able to keep watching the television, be able to turn the kettle on, and benefit from electricity, we have got to make these investments," Energy Secretary Ed Davey told the BBC. "It is essential to keep the lights on and to power British business."
The deal for the new reactor, which will be built at Hinkley Point in southwest England, underlines the desperation politicians across Europe face in meeting energy needs amid dwindling fossil fuel resources and rising costs.
Germany decided two years ago to shut down all of its nuclear power plants by 2022, following years of anti-nuclear protests and the shock of the meltdown at Fukushima, Japan in 2011. But the effort needed to ramp up renewable energy sources to replace domestic nuclear reactors is proving to be costly: not only do many new wind, solar, water and biomass plants need to be built, but Germany's energy grid has to be overhauled to balance the fluctuating supply such power sources provide.
One of the last barriers to the British deal was removed during a visit to Asia last week by Treasury chief George Osborne, who announced that Chinese firms would be permitted to invest in civilian nuclear projects.
China General Nuclear Corp. and China National Nuclear Corp will provide 30 percent to 40 percent of the financing under the agreement in principle announced today, EDF said in a statement. EDF, which is majority-owned by the French government, will provide 45 percent to 50 percent.
The new reactor won't start generating power until 2023, but the deal stipulates the amount operators will be able charge for electricity to ensure they will be able to recoup the costs of the project.
The deal is also a boon to China, which relies on foreign technology for its generating stations and is trying to develop its own reactors.
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