Japan officials to visit disputed islands

TOKYO (AP) ? Tokyo city officials intending to buy tiny islands at the center of a longtime territorial dispute with China left by boat on Saturday to survey the area ahead of the purchase they hope will bolster Japan's claim.

The five uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan have become a major symbol of patriotic pride for some people in China and Japan. They are near key sea lanes and are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and untapped natural resources.

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has raised 1.45 billion yen ($19 million) in private donations over the last several months to buy the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from individual Japanese owners.

Ishihara, a popular nationalist, told reporters Friday he had spoken with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and offered to turn over ownership of the islands to the central government for free.

Supporters think having the government own the islands will strengthen Japan's control over them and send a tougher message to China. Noda said he would consider the offer but did not have an immediate reply, Ishihara said.

The city government says the purpose of the trip by a team of 25 experts and officials is to survey the area to assess its real estate value in preparation for the purchase. The central government did not grant permission to land on the islands, possibly to avoid a flare-up of tensions with China.

The boat left southwestern Japan late Saturday and is to circle the islands for about 10 hours on Sunday to study the area, examine animal and plant life, and measure the depth of coastal waters, according to the city government.

Ishihara wants to eventually build a lighthouse, a dock and a weather observatory on the islands. He has expressed interest in personally going to the islands, possibly next month, but is not part of this voyage.

Last month, Japan detained and later released 14 Hong Kong activists who landed on the islands. Japanese activists have made similar trips. One such group, including several lawmakers, landed a few days after the Chinese were detained.

Hundreds of Chinese have staged anti-Japanese demonstrations in several Chinese cities over the islands. Anti-Japanese sentiments run deep in China because of bitter memories of atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

This past week, a car carrying the Japanese ambassador to China was attacked by a man who ripped the Japanese flag off. No one was injured.

___

Associated Press video journalist Miki Toda contributed to this report from Ishigaki, Japan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-officials-visit-disputed-islands-063933194.html

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Citi cuts RIL to 'neutral' on earnings outlook

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistani scientist who sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya, may try his hand at politics to rescue a country he says has become worse than a banana republic. Abdul Qadeer Khan, still lionized as the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb despite his fall from grace in 2004, may have some appeal ahead of elections due next year. Many Pakistanis are deeply frustrated with their leaders over everything from chronic power cuts to their strategic ties with the United States, and they might welcome someone seen as a national hero on the political stage. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/citi-cuts-reliance-neutral-earnings-outlook-040843987--finance.html

New DNA Analysis Shows Ancient Humans Interbred with Denisovans

A new high-coverage DNA sequencing method reconstructs the full genome of Denisovans--relatives to both Neandertals and humans--from genetic fragments in a single finger bone

By Katherine Harmon

Fragment of a finger: This replica of the Denisovan finger bone shows just how small of a sample the researchers had to extract DNA from. Image: Image courtesy of Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Tens of thousands of years ago modern humans crossed paths with the group of hominins known as the Neandertals. Researchers now think they also met another, less-known group called the Denisovans. The only trace that we have found, however, is a single finger bone and two teeth, but those fragments have been enough to cradle wisps of Denisovan DNA across thousands of years inside a Siberian cave. Now a team of scientists has been able to reconstruct their entire genome from these meager fragments. The analysis adds new twists to prevailing notions about archaic human history.

"Denisova is a big surprise," says John Hawks, a biological anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin?Madison who was not involved in the new research. On its own, a simple finger bone in a cave would have been assumed to belong to a human, Neandertal or other hominin. But when researchers first sequenced a small section of DNA in 2010?a section that covered about 1.9 percent of the genome?they were able to tell that the specimen was neither. "It was the first time a new group of distinct humans was discovered" via genetic analysis rather than by anatomical description, said Svante P??bo, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute (M.P.I.) for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, in a conference call with reporters.

Now P??bo and his colleagues have devised a new method of genetic analysis that allowed them to reconstruct the entire Denisovan genome with nearly all of the genome sequenced approximately 30 times over akin to what we can do for modern humans. Within this genome, researchers have found clues into not only this group of mysterious hominins, but also our own evolutionary past. Denisovans appear to have been more closely related to Neandertals than to humans, but the evidence also suggests that Denisovans and humans interbred. The new analysis also suggests new ways that early humans may have spread across the globe. The findings were published online August 30 in Science.

Who were the Denisovans?
Unfortunately, the Denisovan genome doesn't provide many more clues about what this hominin looked like than a pinky bone does. The researchers will only conclude that Denisovans likely had dark skin. They also note that there are alleles "consistent" with those known to call for brown hair and brown eyes. Other than that, they cannot say.

Yet the new genetic analysis does support the hypothesis that Neandertals and Denisovans were more closely related to one another than either was to modern humans. The analysis suggests that the modern human line diverged from what would become the Denisovan line as long as 700,000 years ago?but possibly as recently as 170,000 years ago.

Denisovans also interbred with ancient modern humans, according to P??bo and his team. Even though the sole fossil specimen was found in the mountains of Siberia, contemporary humans from Melanesia (a region in the South Pacific) seem to be the most likely to harbor Denisovan DNA. The researchers estimate that some 6 percent of contemporary Papuans' genomes come from Denisovans. Australian aborigines and those from Southeast Asian islands also have traces of Denisovan DNA. This suggests that the two groups might have crossed paths in central Asia and then the modern humans continued on to colonize the islands of Oceania.

Yet contemporary residents of mainland Asia do not seem to posses Denisovian traces in their DNA, a "very curious" fact, Hawks says. "We're looking at a very interesting population scenario"?one that does not jibe entirely with what we thought we knew about how waves modern human populations migrated into and through Asia and out to Oceania's islands. This new genetic evidence might indicate that perhaps an early wave of humans moved through Asia, mixed with Denisovans and then relocated to the islands?to be replaced in Asia by later waves of human migrants from Africa. "It's not totally obvious that that works really well with what we know about the diversity of Asians and Australians," Hawks says. But further genetic analysis and study should help to clarify these early migrations.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4dc55603561b90e440bb02f0c6deafaa

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How To Get Your Ph.D. Project Included In The Linux Kernel

The Linux kernel is the world's largest collaborative development project. Almost 3,000 individual contributors work together to create and maintain an operating system kernel that works on everything from wristwatches and mobile phones to mainframes, along with all the peripherals imaginable for each platform. Linux creator Linus Torvalds sits at the top of a loose hierarchy of kernel maintainers and acts as final arbiter for what does or does not get included. So how does one go about contributing a substantially new technology to the kernel?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/FyFk7FlMq6k/

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Sony Xperia sola: a pint-sized Android handset with floating touch (hands-on)

Sometimes getting lost in the maze-like sprawl of the Messe can turn up unexpected surprises. In this case, we chanced upon Sony's Xperia sola hiding in plain sight at Sparhandy's booth. The petite Android handset, formerly codenamed "Pepper", was officially announced earlier this spring and even crept up in FCC filings. But until now, we'd never had quality hands-on time with the 3.7-inch Gingerbread device. For its diminutive size, the wee phone sports a 854 x 480 LCD display powered by Mobile BRAVIA Engine, a dual-core CPU clocked at 1GHz, 5-megapixel rear shooter and NFC functionality for Smart Tag use.

As you might expect, the sola fits quite nicely into the palm of your hand, though its tiny screen can pose an issue for those with larger digits. And speaking of touch navigation, this Sony phone separates itself from the rest of the Xperia pack with the inclusion of floating touch technology -- much like the Galaxy Note 2. What's that? Well, turns out this device can detect your finger's presence up to 20mm away from the screen, allowing users to highlight links, but only from within the browser. Apart from that neat touch, which in practice, is a bit awkward to properly use, the phone functions exactly as it should for the low-to-mid range it occupies. Performance is appreciably quick and pages loaded up in the browser in just about 30 seconds time.

There's still no word on whether the sola will ever make it stateside, but if you're keen to see that hovering functionality in action, head past the break for a video demo and check out our gallery below.

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/31/sony-xperia-sola-a-pint-sized-android-handset-with-floating-tou/

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Le ministre d'Etat Goodyear se r?jouit de la nomination de Brian M. Levitt ? titre de pr?sident du comit? de s?lection du Programme des chaires d'excellence en recherche du Canada

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - 31 ao?t 2012) - Le ministre d'?tat (Sciences et Technologie), l'honorable Gary Goodyear, s'est dit heureux aujourd'hui de la nomination de Brian M. Levitt ? titre de pr?sident du comit? de s?lection du Programme des chaires d'excellence en recherche du Canada (CERC).

? M. Levitt est reconnu comme ?tant l'un des conseillers les plus respect?s au Canada en mati?re de gouvernance d'entreprise, a d?clar? le ministre d'?tat Goodyear. Sa vaste exp?rience et son expertise lui seront tr?s utiles dans l'exercice de ses fonctions de pr?sident du comit? de s?lection lors du prochain concours pour l'attribution des chaires d'excellence en recherche du Canada. ?

Dans l'?conomie moderne, l'innovation issue du secteur priv? contribue ? l'am?lioration de notre qualit? de vie. L'innovation est une source d'emplois, de croissance et de prosp?rit? ? long terme pour tous les Canadiens. Depuis 2006, le gouvernement Harper a investi pr?s de 8 milliards de dollars dans des initiatives destin?es ? appuyer les sciences, la technologie et la croissance des entreprises ax?es sur l'innovation au Canada. Le Plan d'action ?conomique de 2012 continue de renforcer la position internationale du Canada en tant que promoteur de premier plan de la recherche gr?ce ? des investissements suppl?mentaires de 1,1 milliard de dollars sur cinq ans.

? Je suis tr?s honor? d'avoir ?t? nomm? pr?sident du comit? de s?lection du concours de 2012 du Programme des chaires d'excellence en recherche du Canada, a d?clar? M. Levitt. Ce programme s'est acquis une solide r?putation en permettant ? des chercheurs de calibre mondial de travailler dans des universit?s canadiennes. Je suis heureux de pouvoir collaborer avec la copr?sidente du comit? de s?lection, M^me Shirley Tilghman, et les autres membres du comit? de s?lection dans le cadre de ce prestigieux concours. L'attribution de nouvelles chaires d'excellence en recherche du Canada continuera de renforcer la position de chef de file du Canada en mati?re d'appui et de production de travaux de recherche novateurs. ?

M. Levitt a joint le cabinet Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt de Toronto en 1976, avant d'en devenir associ? en 1979, puis pr?sident en 1991. Il est ensuite devenu pr?sident-directeur g?n?ral d'Imasco Limited, une entreprise canadienne de produits et services de grande consommation. Apr?s la vente d'Imasco en 2000, M. Levitt est retourn? chez Osler en 2001. Il a aussi occup? des postes de directeur au sein de plusieurs grandes entreprises publiques au cours des 20 derni?res ann?es. Il est actuellement pr?sident du conseil d'administration du groupe financier Banque TD, membre du conseil d'administration de Domtar Corporation et vice-pr?sident du conseil d'administration de l'Institut C.D. Howe. Il est tr?s engag? dans la vie publique et les organismes communautaires. Il est notamment pr?sident du conseil d'administration du Mus?e des beaux-arts de Montr?al.

M. Levitt a r?cemment ?t? nomm? pr?sident de la Commission d'examen de la r?mun?ration des juges au Canada. En 2007, il a ?t? nomm? au Groupe d'?tude sur les politiques en mati?re de concurrence, un groupe compos? de cinq membres cr?? par le gouvernement du Canada en vue d'examiner les principaux ?l?ments des politiques canadiennes en mati?re de concurrence et d'investissement.

Le Programme des CERC a ?t? mis sur pied en 2008 dans le but d'attirer et de retenir au pays les meilleurs chercheurs au monde et, ce faisant, de doter le pays d'un important bassin d'experts dans des domaines d'importance nationale. Le premier groupe de titulaires de chaire d'excellence a ?t? annonc? en mai 2010. Ces titulaires travaillent d?j? dans 13 ?tablissements situ?s dans l'ensemble du pays, et leurs travaux contribuent au bien-?tre des Canadiens et ? la comp?titivit? du pays ? l'?chelle internationale. Lors du dernier concours des CERC, 10 nouveaux titulaires de chaire de recherche ont ?t? s?lectionn?s. Leurs travaux permettront au Canada d'?tre ? la fine pointe de la recherche dans des domaines qui g?n?reront des retomb?es socio?conomiques importantes pour les Canadiens.

Source: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=1696609&sourceType=3