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Monday, April 29, 2013
Logitech Ultimate Ears Vocal Reference Monitors
First things first: This review is for a pair of $999 (direct) custom-molded earphones aimed squarely at musicians. Unlike most custom pairs in this pricing stratosphere, the Logitech Ultimate Ears Vocal Reference Monitors, as the name suggest, are designed with vocalists in mind. The lowest and highest frequencies are decreased drastically, so that the focus is squarely on the mid-range frequencies that vocals inhabit. As you'd expect from a high-end earphone pair that's custom-molded to your ear canals, there's no distortion to speak of, but it bears repeating: The UE Vocal Reference Monitors are a fantastic musical tool, but not designed for typical music listening.
Design
Visually, there are only so many directions you can go with custom in-canal earphones. When they're in your ears, the outside, flat panel will make it look as if your ears have been filled with a plastic substance. The earpieces themselves are offered in a wide variety of transparent and solid colors. It's also possible to customize your earpieces with artwork, for a higher price.
As for fit, if you've never worn a pair of custom-molded earphones, you're in for a treat. Not only do they fit comfortably and securely for hours on end, they also block out ambient noise more effectively than even active noise canceling headphones can.
A triple-braided, removable audio cable connects to each earpiece, terminating in a 3.5mm connection. There are no inline remotes or microphones to speak of?these earphones are intended for onstage and in-studio use. A gold, screw-on ?-inch adapter ships with the Vocal Reference Monitors,?as well as an earwax cleaning tool and a very sturdy hard case with your name engraved on it.
The fit of the earpieces will have everything to do with the audiologist you choose. The impression process is safe, quick, painless (though it can be uncomfortable for some), and, typically, the audiologist will then send your impressions to Logitech. Turnaround time will vary, but my earphones took about three weeks to arrive after my appointment. The cost for these appointments will also vary, especially if you have medical insurance that might cover your visit, but expect to add on roughly $50 to the price of the earphones.
Performance
Discussing the earphones from an audio standpoint is tricky. Someone who typically likes rich or heavy low-end will hate them, but that's not the point. The earphones act almost like a filter for singers, turning down lower and higher frequencies that can cause listening fatigue over time and compete with the midrange frequencies the vocalist needs to concentrate on.
From a performance standpoint, the Vocal Reference Monitors do not distort on tracks with seriously deep bass, even at maximum, painfully loud volumes. So, these earphones will always deliver clean audio, but remarking upon their sound signature, beyond saying that they're quite light on bass or sparkling, bright highs, is kind of pointless.
Instead of discussing our typical testing suite, I decided to test the earphones in my home recording studio, laying down some vocals over instrumental tracks I had been recording. Lucky for you, you don't have to hear the tracks or my vocals, but I tested using some studio-level gear (a Lomo 19A-9 microphone into an Ampex 351 mic pre, with some very minimal compression via a Shadow Hills Optograph and into Pro Tools, for the recording-gear geeks who want to know the signal chain). So, hopefully, this can at least be seen as comparable with a studio or live set-up, though the gear is far less similar to typical live gear, and it's safe to say my signal chain is not transparent. But that's not the point?the point is: Did the tuning of the Vocal Reference Monitors make it easier for me to lay down vocals?
One of the more difficult aspects of recording or performing vocals while wearing in-canal monitors is not being able to hear your actual voice much, if at all?you hear only what's coming through the earpiece itself, really, and it can be disconcerting at first. It's common to see a vocalist in studio, singing with one headphone ear cup off?many vocalists prefer to hear a blend of the mix and their actual voice occurring in a real acoustic space.?
This fact, combined with the very premise of the Vocal Reference Monitors?that they rid the vocalist of unnecessary frequencies?had me approaching testing with a healthy amount of skepticism. A common studio adage is that most musicians want to hear more of themselves in their monitors; the best musicians ask to hear more of the other musicians. Granted, vocals are different because the sound is literally coming from within, but I wasn't sure, prior to testing, if I agreed with the concept that hearing less of the bass and higher frequencies would necessarily help a vocalist perform better.
In practice, I can say the Vocal Reference Monitors perform as advertised?I felt that my vocals were almost boosted in the mix, although this was not the case. Instead, many of the frequencies they normally compete with were simply not as loud, and thus my vocals, while recording, seemed louder to me. Admittedly, my first reaction was to turn my vocal fader down, so that I felt that the vocals blended a bit more with the overall mix. This was mainly to help my own performance (trust me, I need tons of help).
The pleasant surprise upon turning the fader down? I could still hear my vocals crisply and clearly within the mix?the volume had been lowered, but they still stood out and were intelligible and clear. The lower-mids, and lows, and well as high frequencies, that might have begun to push them down in the mix at that level were not really part of the equation. Basically, no matter whether I had the vocal fader high in the mix, or relatively even with the rest of the tracks, I could always hear my part, and the vocals always sounded crisp.
Again, the earphones were used in a studio, not during a live performance onstage, so the testing does have its limitations. But the earphones block out so much outside noise, it seems likely that what you hear through them will not be competing much with any PA systems, even?they're as effective as earplugs, if not more so. The mic and mic pre I used are not likely to be found in any live setting, but the point is the Vocal Reference Monitor helped the vocals stand out against a busy mix by lowering the frequency ranges that tend to make them more difficult to hear. It's hard to see how this would not translate to better clarity in a live scenario as well.
Some vocalists may still prefer to have the full mix in their ears when performing, or having the engineer customize their mix by carving out the ranges that bug them, but the UE Vocal Reference Monitors do a solid job of bringing vocal clarity to the forefront on its own. Personal monitoring preference in both live and studio scenarios will dictate whether this is a necessary tool or not, but these custom monitors inarguably perform a task that many vocalists will find useful.
Comparing the Vocal Reference Monitors with regular stereo earphones seems a bit pointless, given their unique purpose, although we have reviewed other custom in-ear pairs in the past. Some favorites include the $1,150 JH Audio JH16 Pro, brought to you by Jerry Harvey, the founder of Ultimate Ears before it was sold to Logitech, and the $1,350 Logitech UE 18 Pro, another solid option with a far beefier sound signature than the Vocal Reference Monitor. If these are way out of your range, and you're looking for a simple, effective pair of home studio headphones, the circumaural (over-ear) Sennheiser HD 280 Pro may not be a custom-molded in-canal earphone pair, but it's comfortable, accurate, and powerful?three necessary characteristics for studio gear.
For the $1,000 (and audiologist visit), the Logitech Ultimate Ears Vocal Reference Monitors will prove an effective tool for vocalists who often struggle to hear their own performance in monitors over booming bass or crashing cymbals. If this sounds like you, the UE Vocal Reference Monitor may just be the solution you're looking for.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/s_ErDcsalHk/0,2817,2417720,00.asp
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Algerian president in France for medical tests after minor stroke
By Lamine Chikhi
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been transferred to France for further medical tests after suffering a minor stroke on Saturday, Algeria's official news agency said.
The APS agency said late on Saturday that Bouteflika, 76, was in Paris at the recommendation of his doctors.
He was hospitalized after a minor stroke, according to an earlier state press agency report that quoted the prime minister as saying his condition was "not serious."
The health of Bouteflika is a central factor in the stability of the oil-exporting country of 37 million people that is emerging from a long conflict against Islamist insurgents.
APS said Bouteflika had an "ischemic transitory attack," or mini-stroke, at 12:30 p.m. (1130 GMT) on Saturday.
"A few hours ago, the president felt unwell and he has been hospitalized but his condition is not serious at all," Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal was quoted as saying.
Elected in 1999, Bouteflika is a member of a generation of leaders who have ruled Algeria since winning independence from France in a 1954-62 war.
They also defeated Islamist insurgents in the 1990s and saw off the challenge of Arab Spring protests two years ago, with Bouteflika's government defusing unrest through pay rises and free loans for young people.
Bouteflika has served three terms as president and is thought unlikely to seek a fourth at an election due in 2014. Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables said in 2011 that Bouteflika had been suffering from cancer, but that it was in remission.
It is unknown who might take over Africa's biggest country by land area, an OPEC oil producer that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas imports and cooperates with the West in combating Islamist militancy.
More than 70 percent of Algerians are under 30. About 21 percent of young people are unemployed, the International Monetary Fund says, and many are impatient with the gerontocracy ruling a country where jobs, wages and housing are urgent concerns.
(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algerian-president-france-medical-tests-034747376.html
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Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Including failed terror plots in US terrorism databases would make the US terror-threat picture more complete and provide important information for law enforcement, researchers suggest.
Failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad enters guilty pleas in a court appearance in New York in 2010. Shahzad pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted terrorism transcending national borders.
Jane Rosenburg/REUTERS
EnlargeThe terrorism threat facing the United States may be vastly understated, as well as inaccurately characterized, because so many ?failed? terror plots are excluded from the nation?s terror attack databases, new terrorism research suggests.
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Despite a sharp decline in terrorist attacks since the 1970s, there still were 207 terrorist attacks recorded inside the United States in the decade after 9/11 ? about 20 per year on average, according to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) maintained at the University of Maryland, widely regarded as the nation?s most complete tally.
But what if those totals were, say, 50 percent higher? A researcher at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif., recently tallied 109 failed terrorist plots between 2001 and 2012, only a few of which were included in the GTD?s national terror ?attack? totals.
Yet those failed plots are perhaps just as important in their own way as plots that became actual attacks, some terrorism researchers say. Placing failed plots alongside successful attacks would make the US terror-threat picture more complete, highlight trends in terrorist targeting and methods, and possibly reveal a different ? or even bigger ? threat, they say.
?One finding from my research is that the terror threat within the US is higher than most Americans realize,? says Erik Dahl, an assistant professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, whose research has identified 227 failed domestic and international terror plots of all kinds (Islamic jihadist, right-wing extremist and others) against the US dating back to 1987 ? the vast majority excluded from national ?attack? tallies.
In his post-9/11 analysis, Dr. Dahl found that of the 109 failed attacks, 76 were inspired by radical Islamist beliefs. But the fact that the rest of the terror flops ? 30 percent ? were not inspired by radical Islam ?might surprise some people and shows the importance of the domestic extremist threat, including right-wing militias, anti-government groups,? Dahl says.
Understanding exactly why terror plots fizzled before they could be carried out ? and how far they proceeded before being stopped ? is vital if lawmakers and investigators are to accurately calibrate the scope of the threat, the law enforcement techniques that work best, and terrorist groups? adaptation and targeting patterns, he says.
Yet at present, only successful ?attacks? or attack attempts that at least make it ?out the door? are included in the GTD, according to criteria on its website. Cases where terrorists dropped their plot, or where law enforcement made arrests long before any action could be taken, are usually not included.
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
APNewsBreak: Russia caught bomb suspect on wiretap
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the Boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother, officials said Saturday, days after the U.S. government finally received details about the call.
In another conversation, the mother of now-dead bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was recorded talking to someone in southern Russia who is under FBI investigation in an unrelated case, officials said.
The conversations are significant because, had they been revealed earlier, they might have been enough evidence for the FBI to initiate a more thorough investigation of the Tsarnaev family.
As it was, Russian authorities told the FBI only that they had concerns that Tamerlan and his mother were religious extremists. With no additional information, the FBI conducted a limited inquiry and closed the case in June 2011.
Two years later, authorities say Tamerlan and his brother, Dzhohkar, detonated two homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260. Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout and Dzhohkar is under arrest.
In the past week, Russian authorities turned over to the United States information it had on Tamerlan and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva. The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens who emigrated from southern Russia to the Boston area over the past 11 years.
Even had the FBI received the information from the Russian wiretaps earlier, it's not clear that the government could have prevented the attack.
In early 2011, the Russian FSB internal security service intercepted a conversation between Tamerlan and his mother vaguely discussing jihad, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation with reporters.
The two discussed the possibility of Tamerlan going to Palestine, but he told his mother he didn't speak the language there, according to the officials, who reviewed the information Russia shared with the U.S.
In a second call, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva spoke with a man in the Caucasus region of Russia who was under FBI investigation. Jacqueline Maguire, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington Field Office, where that investigation was based, declined to comment.
There was no information in the conversation that suggested a plot inside the United States, officials said.
It was not immediately clear why Russian authorities didn't share more information at the time. It is not unusual for countries, including the U.S., to be cagey with foreign authorities about what intelligence is being collected.
Nobody was available to discuss the matter early Sunday at FSB offices in Moscow.
Jim Treacy, the FBI's legal attache in Moscow between 2007 and 2009, said the Russians long asked for U.S. assistance regarding Chechen activity in the United States that might be related to terrorism.
"On any given day, you can get some very good cooperation," Treacy said. "The next you might find yourself totally shut out."
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has denied that she or her sons were involved in terrorism. She has said she believed her sons have been framed by U.S. authorities.
But Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers and Zubeidat's former brother-in-law, said Saturday he believes the mother had a "big-time influence" as her older son increasingly embraced his Muslim faith and decided to quit boxing and school.
After receiving the narrow tip from Russia in March 2011, the FBI opened a preliminary investigation into Tamerlan and his mother. But the scope was extremely limited under the FBI's internal procedures.
After a few months, they found no evidence Tamerlan or his mother were involved in terrorism.
The FBI asked Russia for more information. After hearing nothing, it closed the case in June 2011.
In the fall of 2011, the FSB contacted the CIA with the same information. Again the FBI asked Russia for more details and never heard back.
At that time, however, the CIA asked that Tamerlan's and his mother's name be entered into a massive U.S. terrorism database.
The CIA declined to comment Saturday.
Authorities have said they've seen no connection between the brothers and a foreign terrorist group. Dzhohkar told FBI interrogators that he and his brother were angry over wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the deaths of Muslim civilians there.
Family members have said Tamerlan was religiously apathetic until 2008 or 2009, when he met a conservative Muslim convert known only to the family as Misha. Misha, they said, steered Tamerlan toward a stricter version of Islam.
Two U.S. officials say investigators believe they have identified Misha. While it was not clear whether the FBI had spoken to him, the officials said they have not found a connection between Misha and the Boston attack or terrorism in general.
___
Associated Press writer Adam Goldman in Washington and Michael Kunzelman in Boston contributed to this report.
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Friday, April 26, 2013
Breakingviews: Debt debate in need of upgrade
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)
By Edward Hadas
LONDON, April 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - In retrospect, last week's debunking of one of the key conclusions of Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart about government debt looks inevitable. The whole story, from the initial lavish praise for the Harvard professors to the current harsh criticism, is a sad reminder of the power of ideology in the angry debate over economic policy.
In 2011, the two eminent professors claimed to show a tipping point for government borrowing. If the debt amounted to more than 90 percent of GDP, the GDP growth rate was typically much slower than in more fiscally prudent countries. When Thomas Herndon, a mere graduate student at the University of Massachusetts, redid the maths this year, he also found a correlation between higher government debt and slower growth. But there was nothing remotely like a tipping point.
The new paper was a blow to the politicians who relied on the Rogoff-Reinhart 90 percent line to support fiscal "austerity" (smaller government budget deficits). But they were always foolish to trust a study which drew a universal conclusion from a small sample of countries in vastly different situations.
Insofar as the Rogoff-Reinhart research had any value, it merely restated something that should have been obvious anyway: unsatisfactory economic performance and excessive government borrowing generally go together.
The connection is social, not financial. In societies that can get things done, respond well to challenges, compromise when necessary and do not spend more than is affordable, the government is likely to be fiscally competent and the economy is likely to be effective. Conversely, if the society is deeply divided, the economy is probably enfeebled and there is a high chance of a political deficit - to stay in power governments then need to spend more than they take in taxes.
The statistical analysis supports this correlation, but it's really common sense, like the relationship between obesity and bad eating habits. The social analysis should serve as a warning to the austerity crowd. A balanced government budget is not going to restore an ill economy to good health or unify a divided society. The political deficit and social divisions will just appear elsewhere, perhaps taking the form of greater political instability.
The austerity-promoters would also do well to admit that large quantities of government borrowing and spending can be helpful, for example during and after wars, natural catastrophes and recessions. And the choice to raise funds by borrowing rather than through increased taxes is at least as much political as economic.
After all, debt and taxes are interchangeable in terms of cash flow, as long as taxpayers hold all government debt. The two financing mechanisms can be integrated, so the higher taxes needed to pay for higher debt loads are exactly compensated by the interest income and principal repayments taxpayers receive from the government. Government borrowing does not necessarily "crowd out" other economic activity any more, or any less, than an equivalent quantity of tax revenue.
It's clear that Rogoff-Reinhart has methodological and theoretical problems, but their opponents, the advocates of "stimulus" (larger deficits), should be careful about gloating.
Pro-deficit economists cannot counter Rogoff-Reinhart with a persuasive historical study of their own, because peacetime deficits have almost never been as high a share of GDP as they are now. Deficit-doves often cite the U.S. Great Depression, but even if government spending reversed the 27 percent decline in GDP between 1929 and 1933, the precedent is not clearly relevant to the recent 4 percent decline.
The pro-deficit camp does have a plausible theory. Government deficit spending can make up for activity unnecessarily lost through an external shock, for example the 2008 financial crisis. But the stimulus crowd should admit the theory's limits. The more the government spends, the more likely it is to spend foolishly, especially when the government suffers from the sort of large political deficit common in easily shocked economies. Spending financed by borrowing, or by newly created money, is no less likely to be wasted than spending financed by taxes.
Why did the implausible 90 percent Rogoff-Reinhart debt threshold ever gain credence? And why do stimulus defenders ignore the dangers of ever larger governments? Because the austerity-stimulus debate is ultimately a battle in the ideological war over the proper role of government in society. Both sides fervently believe they are right: governments need to be restrained or governments need to be let loose. Both find supporting evidence everywhere and contrary evidence nowhere.
No facts will decide this argument, but the current mix of policies is particularly hard to interpret. For austerity fans, deficits are too high to count as truly austere; for their opponents they are too low to count as genuine stimulus. There will certainly be enough evidence to show that the other side's approach has failed. And it's a safe bet that the next Thomas Herndon will find easy pickings.
(Editing by David Evans and Sarah Bailey)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/breakingviews-debt-debate-upgrade-164756899--business.html
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Tim Cook auctions off coffee with himself for charity
Tim Cook is holding an auction for coffee and conversation with himself on Apple's campus for charity. The terms of the deal state that the meeting will last between thirty minutes and an hour, and will cover two people. The auction is being run through Charitybuzz.
Bid now on this unique opportunity to have coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple headquarters.
The bidding at this time stands at $190,000, well above the $50,000 estimated by the auction site. It?s a rare opportunity to sit down with CEO of the world?s most valuable technology company. Tim Cook often donates to charitable causes, and encourages others at Apple to do the same. The proceeds of the auction will go to benefit the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
Source: Charitybuzz
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
Recipe for low-cost, biomass-derived catalyst for hydrogen production
Apr. 24, 2013 ? In a paper to be published in an upcoming issue of Energy & Environmental Science, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory describe details of a low-cost, stable, effective catalyst that could replace costly platinum in the production of hydrogen. The catalyst, made from renewable soybeans and abundant molybdenum metal, produces hydrogen in an environmentally friendly, cost-effective manner, potentially increasing the use of this clean energy source.
The research has already garnered widespread recognition for Shilpa and Shweta Iyer, twin-sister high school students who contributed to the research as part of an internship under the guidance of Brookhaven chemist Wei-Fu Chen, supported by projects led by James Muckerman, Etsuko Fujita, and Kotaro Sasaki.
"This paper reports the 'hard science' from what started as the Iyer twins' research project and has resulted in the best-performing, non-noble-metal-containing hydrogen evolution catalyst yet known -- even better than bulk platinum metal," Muckerman said.
The project branches off from the Brookhaven group's research into using sunlight to develop alternative fuels. Their ultimate goal is to find ways to use solar energy -- either directly or via electricity generated by solar cells -- to convert the end products of hydrocarbon combustion, water and carbon dioxide, back into a carbon-based fuel. Dubbed "artificial photosynthesis," this process mimics how plants convert those same ingredients to energy in the form of sugars. One key step is splitting water, or water electrolysis.
"By splitting liquid water (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen, the hydrogen can be regenerated as a gas (H2) and used directly as fuel," Sasaki explained. "We sought to fabricate a commercially viable catalyst from earth-abundant materials for application in water electrolysis, and the outcome is indeed superb."
." ..the best-performing, non-noble-metal-containing hydrogen evolution catalyst yet known..."
This form of hydrogen production could help the scientists achieve their ultimate goal.
"A very promising route to making a carbon-containing fuel is to hydrogenate carbon dioxide (or carbon monoxide) using solar-produced hydrogen," said Fujita, who leads the artificial photosynthesis group in the Brookhaven Chemistry Department.
But with platinum as the main ingredient in the most effective water-splitting catalysts, the process is currently too costly to be economically viable.
Comsewogue High School students Shweta and Shilpa Iyer entered the lab as the search for a cost-effective replacement was on.
The Brookhaven team had already identified some promising leads with experiments demonstrating the potential effectiveness of low-cost molybdenum paired with carbon, as well as the use of nitrogen to confer some resistance to the corrosive, acidic environment required in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis cells. But these two approaches had not yet been tried together.
The students set out to identify plentiful and inexpensive sources of carbon and nitrogen, and test ways to combine them with a molybdenum salt.
"The students became excited about using familiar materials from their everyday lives to meet a real-world energy challenge," Chen recounted. The team tested a wide variety of sources of biomass -- leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, and legumes -- with particular interest in those with high protein content because the amino acids that make up proteins are a rich source of nitrogen. High-protein soybeans turned out to be the best.
To make the catalyst the team ground the soybeans into a powder, mixed the powder with ammonium molybdate in water, then dried and heated the samples in the presence of inert argon gas. "A subsequent high temperature treatment (carburization) induced a reaction between molybdenum and the carbon and nitrogen components of the soybeans to produce molybdenum carbides and molybdenum nitrides," Chen explained. "The process is simple, economical, and environmentally friendly."
Electrochemical tests of the separate ingredients showed that molybdenum carbide is effective for converting H2O to H2, but not stable in acidic solution, while molybdenum nitride is corrosion-resistant but not efficient for hydrogen production. A nanostructured hybrid of these two materials, however, remained active and stable even after 500 hours of testing in a highly acidic environment.
"We attribute the high activity of the molybdenum-soy catalyst (MoSoy) to the synergistic effect between the molybdenum-carbide phase and the molybdenum-nitride phase in the composite material," Chen said.
Structural and chemical studies of the new catalyst conducted at Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) are also reported in the paper, and provide further details underlying the high performance of this new catalyst.
"The presence of nitrogen and carbon atoms in the vicinity of the catalytic molybdenum center facilitates the production of hydrogen from water," Muckerman said.
The scientists also tested the MoSoy catalyst anchored on sheets of graphene -- an approach that has proven effective for enhancing catalyst performance in electrochemical devices such as batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and water electrolyzers. Using a high-resolution transmission microscope in Brookhven's Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, the scientists were able to observe the anchored MoSoy nanocrystals on 2D graphene sheets.
The graphene-anchored MoSoy catalyst surpassed the performance of pure platinum metal. Though not quite as active as commercially available platinum catalysts, the high performance of graphene-anchored MoSoy was extremely encouraging to the scientific team.
"The direct growth of anchored MoSoy nanocrystals on graphene sheets may enhance the formation of strongly coupled hybrid materials with intimate, seamless electron transfer pathways, thus accelerating the electron transfer rate for the chemical desorption of hydrogen from the catalyst, further reducing the energy required for the reaction to take place," Sasaki said.
The scientists are conducting additional studies to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of the interaction at the catalyst-graphene interface, and exploring ways to further improve its performance.
In the paper, the authors -- including the two high-school students -- conclude: "This study unambiguously provides evidence that a cheap and earth-abundant transition metal such as molybdenum can be turned into an active catalyst by the controlled solid-state reaction with soybeans?The preparation of the MoSoy catalyst is simple and can be easily scaled up. Its long-term durability and ultra-low capital cost satisfy the prerequisites for its application in the construction of large-scale devices. These findings thus open up new prospects for combining inexpensive biomass and transition metals?to produce catalysts for electro-catalytic reactions."
Additional collaborators in this research were Chiu-Hui Wang and Yimei Zhu of Brookhaven Lab.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Wei-Fu Chen, Shilpa Iyer, Shweta Iyer, Kotaro Sasaki, Chiu-Hui Wang, Yimei Zhu, James T. Muckerman, Etsuko Fujita. Biomass-Derived Electrocatalytic Composites for Hydrogen Evolution. Energy & Environmental Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1039/C3EE40596F
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/z7rfSFKmS_U/130424103132.htm
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Syrian church: 2 abducted priests still missing
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian church officials say they have no information on the whereabouts of two bishops who were kidnapped in northern Syria.
The Damascus-based Greek Orthodox Bishop, Tony Yazigi, had told reporters on Tuesday that the bishops, both based in the northern city of Aleppo, had been released.
But later on Tuesday, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus said in a statement that it had not received "any official document indicating the (bishops') release." The statement was posted on the Patriarchate's website.
Bishop Boulos Yazigi of the Greek Orthodox Church and Bishop John Ibrahim of the Assyrian Orthodox Church were abducted on Monday while traveling outside Aleppo. Gunmen pulled them from their car and shot and killed their driver.
It was not clear who abducted the priests and who is holding them.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-church-2-abducted-priests-still-missing-093521476.html
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Kendrik HR boosts Angels over Rangers in 11
By JOE RESNICK
Associated Press
Associated Press Sports
updated 1:39 a.m. ET April 24, 2013
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - For the second time in three days, the Los Angeles Angels went extra innings and got a game-ending home run.
Howie Kendrick hit his second homer of the night in the 11th inning Tuesday and finished with four RBIs, leading the Angels to a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.
On Sunday against Detroit, it was Mark Trumbo who provided the winning drive in the 13th.
"It's a great feeling to know that you can leave the other team on the field," Kendrick said. "But to get the victory is the most important thing. Every game against these guys is really tough because neither team lays down, and it seems like by the time the ninth inning rolls around, it's always a tie score."
In the series opener Monday, A.J. Pierzynski hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth against Angels closer Ernesto Frieri.
Kendrick, who hit a two-run shot in the sixth off Alexi Ogando and an RBI single in the first, drove a four-seam fastball from rookie Joe Ortiz (2-1) to left-center on a 1-1 count with one out for his third homer of the season.
"I was just trying to get a pitch to drive," Kendrick said. "He was trying to go in there and just left it out over the plate a little bit. He threw me a really good changeup the pitch before, and he was working pretty quick. So I was trying to take my time before I got back in the box."
Dane De La Rosa (1-0) pitched two perfect innings for his first major league win.
The Rangers tied it 4-all in the eighth with an unearned run against Scott Downs, following a couple of costly errors by the Angels - one physical and one mental.
Andrew Romaine, who replaced Brendan Harris at shortstop to start the inning, allowed Nelson Cruz's grounder to skip between his legs after Adrian Beltre's leadoff single. That put runners at the corners for Pierzynski, who hit a routine grounder to first base.
Trumbo saw Beltre break for the plate and immediately threw to catcher Chris Iannetta without looking the runner back to third, and Beltre alertly stayed put.
With the bases loaded, David Murphy grounded into a double play as Beltre scored the tying run. Downs minimized the damage by striking out Mitch Moreland after an intentional walk to Craig Gentry.
The Rangers had a runner at third with two outs in the ninth against Frieri, but left fielder Mike Trout robbed Beltre of an extra-base hit with a full-out diving catch on the warning track.
"That was phenomenal. That saved the game right there," Kendrick said. "I mean, with guys like him and Peter Bourjos out there covering that much ground, two of the fastest guys in baseball, not much really falls out there. And then to have him come up with a clutch play like that was huge for our team."
Beltre couldn't believe that Trout was able to catch up with the ball.
"When I hit it and I saw where he was playing, I thought he had no chance to get there because it was hooking away from him. But I was wrong," Beltre said. "It's not fair to have three center fielders playing outfield here (Trout, Bourjos and Josh Hamilton). I tried right-center field the first at-bat and Bourjos got over there. I don't know how. Then in the ninth inning, I hit what I thought was a double for sure and then that guy got there. It's not fair. I mean, where am I supposed to hit it?"
Someone suggested over the fence, to which Beltre replied: "That sounds like a good idea. I'll try that tomorrow."
The Angels had a golden opportunity to win it in the 10th with the bases loaded and one out, but Beltre turned Albert Pujols' grounder to third into a force at the plate and Hamilton grounded out to second.
Jason Vargas, winless in four starts for the Angels, allowed three runs and seven hits over seven innings. The left-hander, working on six days' rest, pitched with runners on base in each of the first six innings and gave up a three-run homer by Cruz in the sixth after getting staked to a 4-0 lead.
Cruz drove Vargas' 3-2 pitch to left-center for his 23rd career homer against the Angels. It was only the second by the Rangers against a left-handed pitcher this season.
"He's a really good hitter and he's given me some problems in the past," Vargas said. "I was trying to throw a slider there and bury it. But I hung it up there for him and he took advantage of it."
Ogando allowed four runs - two earned - and six hits in seven-plus innings.
The Angels took the lead in the first with two-out RBI singles by Trumbo and Kendrick. It could have been worse for Ogando had it not been for a sensational catch by left fielder Jeff Baker, who raced full speed toward the corner on Hamilton's slicing drive and caught the ball as he slid across the foul line. But he bruised his left knee crashing into the short wall fronting the grandstand, and was replaced by Murphy.
Kendrick made it 4-0 in the fourth with his first home run since a solo shot against Cincinnati's Mat Latos in the second game of the season.
"Howie came through big for us tonight. That's what you expect out of these guys in the lineup," Vargas said. "When you've got one through nine like this, you come to expect those things. And we look for more of it."
NOTES: Baker, who has played four positions this season, made his second start in left. ... The Rangers are the only team that hasn't lost consecutive games.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsPlenty to prove still
HBT: Justin Upton may lead the majors in home runs, but most of them have been solo shots. He still needs to prove he can drive in runners.
MLB-best Braves sweep?day-night with Rockies
DENVER (AP) - Jeff Francis was beaten by the home run ball in the opener of the day-night doubleheader. Jon Garland didn't fare much better for the Colorado Rockies in the nightcap against the Atlanta Braves.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51641651/ns/sports-baseball/
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Watch a Woman from the 1990s Explain What a Computer Is
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TSX opens higher on positive data, Potash earnings
MADRID, April 25 (Reuters) - Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina said the 10-match ban given to his team mate Luis Suarez for biting an opponent was 'absurd' and 'excessive'. Uruguay international Suarez was punished on Wednesday by the English Football Association (FA) after he bit the arm of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic at the weekend. "He knows he is in the wrong, and that it was a mistake, but the 10-game punishment seems absurd to me, excessive and unfair," Spanish international Reina was quoted as telling radio station Cadena Cope by sports daily AS on Thursday. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-set-open-higher-stronger-earnings-data-124832541--finance.html
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3 Doors Down bassist released on $100K bond
Nashville Police Dept. / Reuters
Robert Todd Harrell in his Nashville Police Department mugshot.
By Natalie Finn, E! Online
Todd Harrell is a free man for now.?The 3 Doors Down bassist has been released from jail on a $100,000 bond after being charged with vehicular homicide for allegedly causing a fatal crash in Nashville late Friday night while under the influence, E! News confirmed Tuesday.
Harrell, 41, is reportedly due in court on Thursday.
NEWS: DUI trouble for Todd Harrell in 2012
According to the Nashville Police Department, Harrell was speeding on the I-40 highway in his 2011 Cadillac CTS when he clipped a 2003 Ford F-150 truck, which then struck a guardrail, skidded down an embankment and overturned. The driver of the truck, Paul Howard Shoulders, Jr., died a short time later at a nearby hospital.
Harrell told authorities that he had been drinking hard cider that night and had taken the prescription drugs Lortab and Xanax, police said. He is also charged with bringing controlled substances into a jail after a search allegedly turned up Oxycodone, Xanax and Oxymorphone pills in a plastic bag stuffed in his sock.
Following his arrest, 3 Doors Down announced that they were canceling four upcoming shows and would not resume performing until May 31 in Moscow.
PHOTOS: See more celebrity mug shots
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Scientist at Work Blog: Monsters of the River at One Moment in Time
Lesley de Souza, a research biologist at John G. Shedd Aquarium, writes from Guyana, where she studies the region?s rich aquatic wildlife, including the arapaima, one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world.
Feb. 17, 2013
My heavy heart catches me off guard as I prepare to leave Rewa.? I have been captivated by the combination of a people, place and fish for the last few months.? Many of the villagers stand atop the riverbank and wave goodbye as we make our journey to the landing strip by boat.? We approach the runway, and I welcome the deafening buzz of the bush plane?s propeller, as it seems to quiet my emotions.?We take off, and I look back to the vast, expansive forests and meandering rivers that I have had the pleasure of living in.
I reflect on my time in Rewa, what we have accomplished, and what is yet ahead for arapaima conservation as I make my journey back to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.? I was met with great skepticism when I first approached some of the villagers about tagging arapaima with radio transmitters: ?The challenges are greater than you think, Lesley. These fish are bigger than you; how will you handle them long enough to perform surgery? Some of these ponds are dangerous. Will you get in the water??
A conversation with two local guides, Terry Haynes and Winston Edwards, reawakened my courage.? They said: ?Lesley, we have to try.? This research could be important for us.?
The importance of arapaima to local Amerindian communities and their larger ecological function underscores the urgent need to refine and implement a management plan.? Using radio telemetry to track arapaima migration patterns is a novel approach, a technique that will allow Shedd Aquarium and its partners to quantify and qualify the importance of habitats for feeding and reproduction in both the dry and wet seasons.? This type of high-quality ecological data is critical to generate this plan for arapaima conservation.
Over the last three months my crew and I tagged 20 arapaima with radio transmitters for tracking.? The fish are a mix of juveniles and adults spread throughout ponds, oxbows and main river channels along the Rewa and Rupununi Rivers.? It is too soon to elucidate overall migration routes, but various movement patterns are emerging among these tagged fish during this short time. There seems to be consistent movement from the fish as the water levels fluctuate. When water levels remain constant, they are more stationary.? We tracked several of the individuals that are more than five feet long to deep pools in the river channel, where they remain.? Other tagged fish were found rolling with a partner, a behavior that Amerindian guides say suggests mating.
I have successfully reached my goals for the first phase of this research: tagging and tracking arapaima during the dry season.? Rovin Alvin and Winston Edwards have shown great interest in the research and have offered to continue tracking until I return at the start of the rains, in late April or early May.? In the interim, I will be compiling the data from the first phase and preparing for the rainy season phase from the aquarium.
Naturally, my Amerindian colleagues assure me that greater challenges lie ahead.? Even something as simple as getting gas will become challenging in the rainy season. The roads become flooded by the steady rains. Traveling by boat, we?ll lose the open expanse of the river and maneuver instead through a flooded forest. The jungle becomes one large floodplain with no boundaries. Where will the arapaima go? How will I find them?? Not to mention the abundance of biting insects.? It can be miserable, I am told.
I feel a hint of discomfort when I visualize being inundated by hungry mosquitoes or cabora flies, but I resist thinking about it further.? I will overcome those challenges as I am confronted with them.? For now, the United States lies ahead ? and maybe a milkshake or two.
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Canada alleges Al Qaeda plot from Iran, but Tehran's involvement unlikely
Could Iran really have been linked to an Al Qaeda plot in Canada to derail a passenger train bound for the US?
When Canadian officials made that charge yesterday, it surprised Iran specialists because the Shiite Islamic Republic and hardline Sunni Al Qaeda have been largely hostile to each other for the last two decades.
The history of antagonism between the Iranian government and Al Qaeda makes any state involvement unlikely. However, operatives may be exploiting loose government control in remote border areas.
Iran today denied that it had any connection to the ?major terrorist attack? that Canadian officials say they thwarted. According to officials, ?Al Qaeda elements in Iran? gave ?direction and guidance? to Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal, and Raed Jaser of Toronto, to mount an attack on a Toronto-New York train line. The suspects had been under surveillance for a year before their arrests.
RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Iran? Take our quiz to find out.
?No shred of evidence regarding those who?ve been arrested and stand accused has been provided,? Iran?s foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said today, according to Iranian media.
?We oppose any kind of violent act that endangers lives,? said Mr. Mehmanparast. ?In recent years, Canada?s radical government has put in practice a project to harass Iran and it is clear that it has pursued these hostile actions.?
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it had no evidence of Iranian state sponsorship in the plot, but also did not specify how Al Qaeda elements in Iran may have been able to shape events from two continents away, and without Iranian knowledge.
Reuters reported that a US government source suggested that ?Iran was home to a little-known network of Al Qaeda fixers and 'facilitators' based in the Iranian city of Zahedan,? located near Iran?s remote eastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, an area known for its lawlessness.
Those fixers ?serve as go-betweens, travel agents and financial intermediaries for Al Qaeda operatives and cells operating in Pakistan and moving throughout the area,? and "do not operate under the protection of the Iranian government, which periodically launches crackdowns on al Qaeda elements," Reuters reports.
TIES 'FUELED BY MUTUAL DISTRUST'
Iran detained hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters who fled from Afghanistan to Iran in late 2001, after US air strikes and the Northern Alliance militia ? which shared close ties with both Iran and later the US ? forced the collapse of the Taliban regime, which hosted Al Qaeda.
Iran?s Revolutionary Guard had been helpful to the US military and the CIA in that fight, quietly providing extensive intelligence and political assistance to improve targeting of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Iran repatriated many of the Arab Al Qaeda fighters who fled Afghanistan to their home countries, but kept several dozen of the most high-ranking, including children and relatives of Osama bin Laden, and Al Qaeda?s former No. 3, the head of security and intelligence Saif al-Adel. Iran has always claimed that they were under house arrest or otherwise prevented from keeping operational contact with Al Qaeda foot soldiers.
A report by the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point on some of the documents found in Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound in May 2011 appears to confirm Iran?s frequently hostile relationship with Al Qaeda.
The documents ?make it clear that Al Qaeda's ties to Iran were the unpleasant byproduct of necessity, fueled by mutual distrust and antagonism,? states the report.
?Relations between Al Qaeda and Iran appear to have been highly antagonistic, and the documents provide evidence for the first time of al Qaeda?s covert campaign against Iran,? the CTC reports. ?Al Qaeda did not appear to have looked to Iran from the perspective that ?the enemy of my (American) enemy is my friend,? but the group might have hoped that ?the enemy of my (American) enemy would leave me alone.' ?
In the letters, top Al Qaeda leaders complain that the Iranian ?criminals did not send us any letter, nor did they send us a message through any of the brothers [they released]!? The CTC report notes that ?Bin Laden was equally distrustful of the Iranian regime,? and that the release of his family was ?fraught with hurdles.?
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
An analysis of the CTC report by Barbara Slavin of Al-Monitor noted that the Abbottabad documents ?underline the view that the George W. Bush administration missed what could have been a major opportunity to work with Iran against the Sunni militant group responsible for the 9-11 attacks.?
Similarly, notes Ms. Slavin, the report suggests the Obama administration ?may have overstated the case when the US Treasury Department designated Iran [in July 2011] for having a ?secret deal with al-Qaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory.??
Iran tried to use those Al Qaeda operatives as bargaining chips, offering to trade them with the US in 2003 for leaders of the Iranian armed opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), whose base at Camp Ashraf in Iraq came under American control after the US military toppled Saddam Hussein.
The US refused the offer, with some Pentagon and Bush administration officials arguing that the MEK ? which was listed as a ?terrorist organization? by the US State Department from 1997 until last September ? might prove a useful tool in any future US fight against Iran.
Instead, Iran has used them as bargaining chips with Al Qaeda itself. The CTC report notes correspondence boasting that Al Qaeda in 2008 kidnapped an Iranian diplomat in Peshawar, Pakistan, and ?the threats we made? to ?scare? the Iranians into releasing bin Laden relatives and key operatives.
The fresh Canadian claims about the Al Qaeda-Iran connection come 1.5 months after bin Laden son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was detained in the Turkish capital Ankara, in a joint Turkey-CIA operation. Mr. Abu Ghaith had been held for years in Iran, and his arrest (eventually by Jordan) ? not long after a US federal court happened to issue an arrest warrant ? indicated to some that he may have been surreptitiously released by Iran.
He is now in American custody. But the chain of events has raised speculation of a ?goodwill gesture? by Iran as nuclear negotiations with world powers continue, notes Inter Press Service, or as part of a more complex Turkey-mediated prisoner swap deal with Syrian rebels.
RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Iran? Take our quiz to find out.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-alleges-al-qaeda-plot-iran-tehrans-involvement-133438663.html
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Congressional immigration debate signals big shift
PHOENIX (AP) ? The national mood on immigration has changed dramatically since Arizona approved a first-of-its-kind immigration law, igniting a furor over border security and the country's treatment of immigrants.
A mere three years later, President Barack Obama and Republicans and Democrats in Congress are lobbying for the nation's first immigration overhaul in nearly three decades ? and public opinion is on their side.
The remarkable and almost shocking shift has renewed debate in Arizona and other states opposed to mass immigration about whether it's time to double down or back off.
Arizona's law drew international complaints of unlawful police scrutiny and inspired a handful of copycat policies across the country. The centerpiece of the measure requires police to question suspects about their immigration status, a provision that would be vastly undermined if millions of immigrants are able to obtain legal status.
"Arizona was, is and will always be concerned primarily about border security," said state Rep. John Kavanagh, one of the Republican architects behind the bill. "No matter how much they wish, they are not going to get the American people to turn their back on border security and the rule of law."
Kris Kobach, Kansas' secretary of state and the author of Arizona's immigration law, also remains an avid defender of "self-deportation" policies as the best defense against illegal immigration.
"Arizona has proven if you ratchet up the penalties people comply," Kobach said Monday during a Senate hearing on immigration.
The proposed immigration overhaul would allow tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers into the country and extend legal rights for some 11 million immigrants already here. It also seeks to strengthen border security and includes stiff penalties for illegal immigration, signs that Arizona's legacy of tough enforcement lives on.
But the rhetoric against illegal immigration has become much more polite since 2010 when the fervor was at a climax and Arizona passed Senate Bill 1070. Then, a national campaign to end birthright citizenship warned of Asian and Hispanic mothers darting across borders to empty their wombs on U.S. soil. Candidates ran for the U.S. House with TV spots featuring menacing Mexicans. There was talk of kidnappings, gangs, drug cartels and desert beheadings.
These days, both of Arizona's Republican U.S. senators are among those leading the immigration overhaul effort, the Arizona state lawmaker who created the landmark immigration law was forced out by voters and the proposal advancing in Congress would grant legal status to most immigrants illegally in the country.
"We are looking at a major shift in public opinion," said Tony Payan of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Texas. "It took us all by storm."
Republicans and Democrats alike say the turning point was the November elections, when Hispanic and Asian voters overwhelmingly swept Obama into a second term after years of anti-immigrant rhetoric from the GOP and just months after the Obama administration announced an unprecedented policy allowing young immigrants to seek legal status.
While Republican President George W. Bush won more than 40 percent of the Latino vote in 2004, Romney received 27 percent Hispanic support, less than any presidential candidate in 16 years.
"If we pass this bill, I don't think we gain a single Hispanic vote immediately," said Arizona Sen. John McCain when unveiling the national immigration legislation last week. "What it does is it puts us on a level playing field to compete for those votes."
America has a long history of suspicion toward immigrants, said Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director for the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C. Nearly two decades ago, most Americans considered immigrants a burden on the country. In March, only 41 percent of Americans said they still felt that way, Lopez said.
Young, liberal voters are shaping public opinion, but so are Hispanics, who comprised 16.3 of the population in 2010, up from 12.5 percent in 2000. In all, more than 40 million Hispanic will be eligible to vote in 2030, according to Pew data.
A steady decline in illegal immigration since 2006 and a gradual economic recovery that put the national unemployment rate at a four-year low in March have also influenced changes in the immigration debate.
"People are really tired of the issue and they want it to go away," said Audrey Singer, a senior fellow specializing in immigration policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "The recognition that it is better to know who is living in our country and to bring them out of the shadows, so that all workers benefit, seems to resonate with people."
In recent months, state lawmakers across the country have debated extending rights to immigrants living in the country illegally, including greater access to higher education and driver's licenses.
Democratic state Sen. Steve Gallardo has worked for years to overturn Arizona's immigration law, but he has largely been ignored by the Republican-led Legislature. The conversation in Washington is a sign that the state law has a dim future, Gallardo said.
"This is what America wants," he said of comprehensive immigration reform.
But public sentiment on immigration could easily turn again with a change in the economy or an overreach by Congress, said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes the proposed national overhaul.
"If you went through the provisions of 1070, most Americans would still support them," Mehlman said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congressional-immigration-debate-signals-big-shift-071337266.html
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Stocks little changed as investors weigh earnings
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks were little changed in early trading on Wall Street Wednesday as investors considered mixed earnings results from several major U.S. companies.
Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, was among the early gainers, advancing 7 percent to $68.70. Yum Brands reported earnings late Tuesday that exceeded the expectations of financial analysts. General Dynamic, the aerospace and defense company, also surged after posting a profit that was better than expected. The stock jumped 5 percent to $70.46.
Other companies disappointed investors.
Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer goods maker, fell 4.9 percent to $77.97 after the maker of Tide and Gillette issued a weak forecast for the next quarter. AT&T dropped 5.8 percent to $36.75 after it lost phone subscribers from its contract-based plans for the first time as sales of smartphones slow.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 28 points, or 0.2 percent, at 14,691 as of 10:16 a.m. EDT. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell two points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,576. The Nasdaq composite was down 11 points, or 0.3 percent, at 3,258.
While the majority of companies have been exceeding Wall Street's expectations on earnings, their performance on sales hasn't been as strong.
About 67 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten expectations, better than the 10-year average of 62 percent, according to S&P Capital IQ. However, only 42 percent of companies have reported better revenue than forecast.
A report that orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods fell more than economists expected last month also weighed on the stock market. The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods declined 5.7 percent in March following a 4.3 percent gain the previous month. February's figure was revised lower.
The report will add to concerns that the U.S. economy is slowing. Stocks logged their biggest weekly drop in five months last week after growth in China, the world's second-biggest economy, slowed.
Among other companies that reported earnings Wednesday, Boeing rose 3.6 percent to $91.27 after the airplane maker said its first-quarter net income rose 20 percent despite problems with the 787 Dreamliner. The company said it would still meet its financial and delivery targets this year even after the 787 was grounded in mid-January because of problems with its batteries.
In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, was little changed at 1.71 percent.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-little-changed-investors-weigh-earnings-142211672--finance.html
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