Weeks

The Obama administration has shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing. Loop readers know the heart-warmingly redemptive tale of Michael D. Brown , the former Bush loyalist tossed out of his FEMA job after Hurricane Katrina, only to emerge as a vocal administration critic and speech-giving consultant.Museum-goers around the country may gain new insight into the work of visionary designer Rafael Guastavino thanks in part to three undergraduates from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) — senior Nicky Soane, sophomore Simon Okaine and junior Carmen Castaños — who constructed a half-scale replica of the designer's vaulted ceiling for a touring exhibit.Known for creating beautiful vaulted ceilings in such landmark buildings as the Boston Public Library and Grand Central Terminal in New York City, Guastavino is the focus of “Palaces for the People: Guastavino and America’s Great Public Spaces,” an exhibit by MIT professor John Ochsendorf that is on display now through Feb. 24 at the Boston Public Library. The exhibit will travel to the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. (March 16-Sept.
2), and then to the Museum of the City of New York in early 2014.The
library exhibit features a smaller scale model of a Guastavino vaulted ceiling, which was designed by Soane, Okaine and Suk Lee, a graduate student in architecture. The model was built by Soane, Okaine and Castaños, along with local masons and masons from the International Masonry Institute.“We
were teaching them Guastavino, and they were teaching us masonry,” Soane says of working with the masons, noting that he, Okaine and Castaños plan to help build another replica for the exhibit’s appearance in D.C. The students constructed their model for the exhibit as part of an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) project.“I
feel strongly that in order to be a successful structural engineer, you have to build," Soane adds.
"It is a remarkable feeling to take a pile of materials and build something you can

stand on the next day.”
The students’ model replicates one of the vaults visitors

can see in the library's McKim Building, constructed in 1895.
The building is known to feature Boston’s best examples of Guastavino vaulting — which refers to the designer's technique for constructing vaulted ceilings — including the ceiling of the main entry hall and the vaulted arcade that surrounds the building’s courtyard.Ochsendorf
both conceived and curated the exhibit, which includes historical artifacts, manuscripts and photographs of buildings constructed by the Guastavino Company, a construction company Guastavino

founded in the late 19th century. “Many architects and engineers today marvel at the construction of Guastavino vaults, but few really understand how they were put together,” says Ochsendorf, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and architecture.
“The Guastavino Project interested me because it involved both history and engineering," Ochsendorf says. "I was really intrigued by the fact that such sophistication could be achieved without the computational capabilities we have now.”Guastavino
vaulting became popular in the United

States at the turn of the century, because the thin tile the designer used is lighter and less expensive than traditional stone vaulting and has an extremely high load capacity due to its form.
The tiles are also fireproof and can be arranged decoratively and left exposed.As Ochsendorf notes in his book, "Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of

Structural Tile" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010), “because of their lighter weight, tile vaults have lower horizontal thrusts than conventional stone masonry, but they do exert thrust on their supports … [t]ile vaults survive because the form is correct, and not because of the tension capacity of the materials.”MIT’s
Maseeh Hall, built in 1901 and restored in 2011 through the generosity of CEE alumnus Fariborz Maseeh ScD ’90, also features a vaulted Guastavino ceiling in the lobby. Read the complete article. Samsung on Thursday highlighted many new features in its latest Galaxy S 4 smartphone during a Broadway-style presentation, but was surprisingly quiet about the technology that tracks facial and eye movement, which could enhance the video and browsing experience on the device. Michael Arad, designer of the National September 11 Memorial, looks for simple colorful blocks.
Wylie Dufresne, known for his experimental cooking at WD-50, brings a simpler touch — and lower prices — to Alder. But his instinct to surprise diners is still there.     “Heaven’s Gate,” the 1980 film that torpedoed both a legendary studio and the New Hollywood era, has been restored and gets a new lease on life. MIT chemical engineers have devised a cheaper way to synthesize a key biofuel component, which could make its industrial production much more cost-effective.The compound, known as gamma-valerolactone (GVL), is attractive because of its versatility, says Yuriy Román, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and leader of the research team. It has more

energy than ethanol and could be used on its own or as an additive to other fuels. GVL could also be useful as a “green” solvent or a building block for creating renewable polymers from sustainable materials. The traditional process for converting plant micro niche finder GVL requires catalysts made from precious metals and must be done at very high pressures of hydrogen gas, which makes the process cost-prohibitive. The new MIT production method, described in the June 11 issue of the journal Angewandte Chemie, eliminates both of those obstacles.“People recognize that GVL is a very interesting molecule derived from biomass, but the type of processing now used doesn’t allow the manufacturing process to be scaled up. It’s done at a lab scale, but not industrial scale,” Román says.
Román and his colleagues are now working on an economic analysis of the savings the new process might generate, and are working to

apply the principles of their new synthesis to the production of similar fuels or fuel precursors. Lead authors of the new paper are Linh Bui, who recently received an SB in chemical engineering from MIT, and Helen Luo, a graduate student in chemical engineering.An
expensive synthesisTo create GVL from plant material, it is necessary to start with cellulose or hemicellulose (a less-stable relative of cellulose), which together make up most plant biomass.Using
the traditional GVL manufacturing method, cellulose and hemicellulose are converted into levulinic acid, which has a chain of five carbon atoms.
That chain is then closed into a ring by adding hydrogen atoms in a process called hydrogenation. That hydrogenation step is where the manufacturing process

becomes cost-prohibitive. To add hydrogen atoms to levulinic acid, a precious metal catalyst, usually palladium or ruthenium, is needed.
Also, the source of hydrogen atoms is hydrogen gas, which is not very soluble in water.


To get enough hydrogen to dissolve in the water where the reaction takes place, the entire system must be exposed to very high pressure, which requires expensive equipment.Other
chemists have tried to get around these obstacles by using less-valuable metals such as copper as the catalyst, but those are quickly deactivated in water or don’t perform the reaction as efficiently as the precious metal catalysts. Chemists are also seeking new sources of hydrogen; one alternative is formic acid, which releases hydrogen when it dissolves in water. This seems to

work well, Román says, but the reaction still requires a precious metal catalyst and relatively harsh conditions.A new cascadeThe MIT team took a new approach, using a series of cascading reactions slightly different from the traditional pathway. Instead of converting hemicellulose directly to levulinic acid, they first convert it to furfural, a molecule that contains a five-member ring.
Starting with furfural, the researchers then launch a cascade in which they open up the ring, add hydrogen atoms, then close it into a new ring — GVL.The
catalyst for this series of reactions is a zeolite — a porous silicate mineral containing zirconium and aluminum, both abundant metals. The source for the hydrogen atoms is an alcohol called 2-butanol, which can be obtained easily from renewable biomass sources.
The entire process takes place at a relatively low temperature (120 degrees Celsius) and does not require hydrogen gas, so the capital costs for the necessary equipment are lower than they would be using the traditional process, Román says.The new reaction generates GVL in yields exceeding 70 percent from biomass, comparable to the yield of the traditional manufacture of GVL, but the researchers are now working on tweaking the reaction to further improve its efficiency.
In particular, they are studying how different solvents

and the acidity of the catalyst affect the reaction. Tuning the catalyst’s acidity can reduce byproducts, Román says.The researchers are also working on coupling their new synthesis to the synthesis of furfural from biomass, so the entire production process can occur in a single cascade of reactions controlled by the same catalyst.Raul Lobo, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Delaware, says the research is an important advance in applying this type of catalyst to sustainable chemistry.
“I hope this opens the door to multiple opportunities of applying the same chemistry to other

biomass-derived molecules, increasing the likelihood that biomass will be used as an important and renewable source of carbon in the chemical industry in the 21st century,” says Lobo, who was not part of the research team.The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Mary Poppins knew this secret: We are born with an innate preference for sweetness.
As she liked to sing: "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."
McAfee Thursday announced it’s providing a one-time password function as part of its Cloud Single Sign On service for more securely provisioning and de-provisioning hundreds of cloud-based services for enterprise use.     The revival of Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” starring Scarlett Johansson, may still recoup its capitalization on Broadway.
Samsung has pushed back the launch of its Knox security software for Galaxy Android smartphones until summer, according to a New York Times report that claims more testing is needed before Knox finds its way into people's hands. Cherry, a subterranean restaurant in the meatpacking district, promises (and charges) so much, yet proves such a tease.    
TOKYO - Canned goods, batteries, bread and

bottled water have vanished from store shelves and long lines of cars circle gas stations, as Japan grapples with a new

risk set off by last week's earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis: panic-buying.
I'll kick off this roundup by eating a little crow -- I pooh-poohed the notion forex growth bot might not be

rolling out Key Lime Pie at this year's I/O conference in last week's installment, saying that I'd still be expecting Android 5.0 to show up in San Francisco.     Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) junior Victoria Winters recently won one of

three Undergraduate Poster Awards at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics.The
award, given for research at the student's home institution, recognizes Winters' research at Alcator C-Mod this past year as part of the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program program.
Her winning poster, titled "Exponential Spectra in Alcator C-Mod Edge Turbulence" was co-authored with Assistant Professor Anne White (of NSE and the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center), David Pace (General Atomics), Jim Terry, Arturo Dominguez, NSE Assistant Professor Felix Parra and Jerry Hughes (MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center).The research proposes that exponential power spectra seen in edge turbulence of fusion plasmas is the result of deterministic chaos, and is associated with the presence of Lorentzian pulses in the time series data. Using reflectometer and Gas Puff Imaging (GPI) data in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, the team analyzed exponential power spectra in Ohmic and L-mode plasmas.
They found that both reflectometer homodyne signals and GPI signals measuring density fluctuations just inside

or at the Last Closed Flux

Surface exhibit exponential power spectra. Theoretically, the characteristic slope of the data on a semi-log plot gives the full width of the underlying Lorentzian pulses.
Using a separate fitting routine, individual Lorentzian pulses in the reflectometer time series data have been identified, and the widths of the Lorentzian pulses match the inverse characteristic frequency of the exponential spectra. Preliminary analysis of the waiting times and

pulse amplitudes indicate these are randomly distributed, yet the pulse widths have a narrow distribution.
This is consistent with the deterministic chaos model, and further work is in progress to assess the robustness of the results.Winters
was also the recipient of the department’s 2012 Outstanding UROP

Award for her research on this same topic. Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) and the MIT Industrial Performance Center (MIT-IPC) today announced a national series of regional forums that will bring together business leaders to promote regional economic growth through advanced energy business and technology innovation as well as effective energy and environmental policies.The
first AEE/MIT-IPC Utility and Advanced Energy Executive Forum, which took place March 6 at MIT, brought top utility company executives from around the country together with executives of advanced energy companies to identify actions at the regional and national levels that could accelerate

adoption of advanced energy within the utility sector. The closed-door, invitation-only FORUM? will result in an action plan framework that will identify a roadmap for achieving tangible results throughout the United States focusing on: Here is the second part of a chapter by Professor Richard Sambrook in After Leveson.*
The director of Cardiff University's centre for journalism answers questions he posed in yesterday's extract, asking whether it might be possible to build journalistic professionalism through formalising education and whether employers could be persuaded to support it...Outside journalism, professionals typically undergo a postgraduate programme. On qualifying, they then have to obtain a formal licence to practice by passing a comprehensive exam designed to test their mastery of their subject. Once they pass this test, they have to invest in a certain amount of continuing education to stay abreast of evolving knowledge.
In some fields, licensed professionals must periodically pass further exams in order to re-certify their licenses.Journalists don't face such challenges. Although increasing numbers now have university training, and those entering newspapers may sit the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) exams, there is no formal requirement for entry.There is a growing need for consistent entry level training and also for training at mid-career and senior levels.
Society has an implicit contract with true professions — we grant them privileges because we trust them to self-govern. They are not always upheld, but they do establish a higher expectation than in a non-professional setting, and a higher degree of censure when those expectations are broken. If journalism were to be seen as a profession, supported by a transparent approach to training and development and qualification, public expectations and the expectations of journalists themselves would rise.
It might be the start of strengthening trust and improving morale.For that to happen, the industry would need to agree, and abide by, a consistent standard for entry to the profession – accredited independently by the NCTJ or others – and invest in a recognised programme of continuous personal development for editorial staff. Currently there is little incentive for them to do so and, culturally, little recognition of the need or advantages of

doing so.How
the US moved on from yellow journalismThere is a parallel with the "professionalisation" of American journalism a century ago.
In the 1920s there was a long and heated debate about press standards and purposes – following the sensational yellow journalism of the press wars between Pulitzer and Hearst.As Michael Schudson has suggested, this debate led to a conscious decision on the part of American journalists to move towards a set of professional standards, a move also made in response to the rapid growth of PR.
In the US, they developed the first ethical codes of practice and the concept of objectivity as a google sniper value took hold. It was a view that did not cross the Atlantic.Britain
aspired to the amateur literary journalistic tradition, but also – in broadcasting at least – adopted the objective/impartial ideal.Through most of the last century this professional approach to

newspaper

journalism in

the US has produced high quality, ethically sound, reporting. Critics would say it has also been less innovative or creative than British journalism and has not protected US journalism from some of its own scandals. In addition, the digital age has undermined the value of such professional norms as objectivity which, in the US more than the UK, is now widely discredited as an impossible and

therefore unhelpful standard to which to aspire.Establishing
professional norms in the US worked in the middle of the last century at a time when owners wanted to restore trust and build media empires based on scarcity of resource and distribution. In an era of digital plenty, and economic challenge, it is less clear that the same approach is relevant anymore. However, this shouldn't be confused with a lack of relevance of any professional standard.If the norms of objectivity and impartiality are breaking down, what is to distinguish the professional journalist from anyone with access to social media or a blog? In an era

when we are engulfed in information – much of it of poor quality, uncertain provenance or just wrong – there should be a premium on professional assessment, analysis and presentation of information of public interest.
Ethical codes can help to set standardsTrust in a professional approach requires transparency about standards, methods and motivations – and a culture which prizes accuracy and a positive relationship with the public rather than the cynical exploitation of them as revealed in the Leveson inquiry.There is of course a great deal of outstanding high quality journalism delivered every day by British newspapers. In many ways, we are lucky to have the range and quality that we enjoy given the economic circumstances. But in its approach to training and development, and the culture it nurtures, the industry is overly attached to the past.Lord
Justice Leveson talks more about culture than about training or development in his report – while making clear that they are closely linked.
He says no code of practice can turn

an unethical organisation into an ethical one.
However such codes can help ethical organisations to set standards. Culture is the core issue.
As any manager will testify cultural change, even when recognised as

needed, is hugely difficult to implement.In a curious and little commented upon digression, considering the tools a new regulatory system might use to change culture, Sir Brian Leveson turned to a former government lawyer, Donald Macrae.
In paragraphs that could have come out of a business school handbook, he offered a four-part analysis of bringing about cultural and behaviour change across the industry based on four principles: enable, encourage, engage and exemplify.What
is striking about this passage on cultural change is the extent to which Leveson believes those outside the industry are key to ensuring an environment that will stimulate and support a different media culture.
The relationship between the media and society is of course crucial. Transparency is the crucial ethical factorIf there is a lucrative market in unethical journalism, it will continue.
If the public really want a more accountable media, they have to continue to demand it. At the heart of this relationship, as Leveson noted, sits transparency:"Transparency... could work in two ways. It can take the form of transparency of action (eg, requiring all stories to run under the byline of a real person; requiring transparency on the sources of quotes, requiring transparency

on the method by which any story has been obtained). It can also take the form of transparency of compliance (eg, requiring visible corrections, publishing accuracy league tables, publishing data on compliance with regulatory standards)."He also recommended the six principles of transparency offered by Baroness Onora O'Neill:(a) openness about payments from others; (b) openness about payments to others; (c) openness about the interests (financial or otherwise) of owners, editors, programme- makers and journalists; (d) openness about errors; (e) openness about (most) sources, with an adequately drawn test of the public interest to allow sources to be kept secret; (f) openness about comments from members of the public.Ethics
and transparency are about the media's relationship with the public. Adopting a framework of transparency of this kind – within whatever regulatory model emerges from the current political debate – would be a first step in strengthening that relationship, providing a basic level of accountability and rebuilding trust.
It would also be a first step towards a more professional footing for journalism that could be built upon without infringing independence or freedom of the press.It doesn't require statute to implement – merely a shift in perspective about newspapers' responsibilities towards the public and

a recognition by employers about their responsibility towards a well-trained staff.After Leveson? The future for British journalism, edited by John Mair, is published by Abramis.
Available at a special Media Guardian price of £15 from [email protected]:
Bernard Clark thinks Lord Justice Leveson was looking backward at a disappearing problem rather than forward at the burgeoning of information terrorismLeveson reportLord Justice LevesonLeveson inquiryRoy Greensladeguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use fat burning furnace pdf content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Shinsplints are painfully familiar to many athletes, but wearing the right shoes and targeted exercises can provide relief, explains the Phys Ed columnist Gretchen Reynolds. BEIRUT — The Syrian government and rebels accused each other Tuesday of firing a chemical weapon near the city of Aleppo, killing at least two dozen people in an attack that, if confirmed, would mark the first use of chemical arms and a major escalation in Syria’s two-year conflict.
Read full article >> Russell Westbrook slammed his hand on the scorer's table in anger. He had been slowing down to call a timeout when rookie Patrick Beverley came careening in to try for a steal and crashed into Westbrook's knee.     Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh look gorgeous but it's Flora Robson as Queen Elizabeth who steals the showFire Over England (1937)Director: William K HowardEntertainment grade: B+History grade: CIn 1588, the Spanish Armada sailed against Elizabeth I's England.International
relationsPhilip II's Spain is beleaguered by English pirates.
The Spanish ambassador turns up at the court of Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) to protest.
Elizabeth insists she has nothing to do with piracy, and considers herself Philip's loving sister (as history buffs will know, he was married to her half-sister, Mary I).
"His portrait still

hangs

in a place of honour," she assures the ambassador. "My king does not ask your grace to hang his portrait, but to hang his enemies," the ambassador zings

back.PiracyMeanwhile,
fictional English pirate's son Michael

Ingolby (Laurence Olivier) is aboard a ship when

it is taken by the Inquisition.
He jumps overboard and swims to the Spanish coast.
Conveniently, he stumbles ashore at the palace of an old friend of his father's. Even more conveniently, the

old friend of his father's has a comely daughter, Elena (Tamara Desni).
Soon he's having a whale of a time hanging out on a Spanish beach, wearing a silly hat, singing songs and indulging in a light holiday romance.JusticeThe reverie sours when Michael sees smoke rising from nearby Lisbon.
(The film's geography is baffling: Lisbon, being slap-bang in the middle of 16th-century Portugal, would not have been visible from anywhere in Spain – though it was the port from which the Spanish Armada sailed.) The

Inquisition has condemned his father to die by fire. Michael flies into a hammy tantrum. "If only you knew how I loathed you all! Your Spanish faces, your Spanish voices!" he

bellows at his hosts.
"You've made me your household pet,

but you've burned my father!" This scene is perhaps not supposed to be quite as hilarious as it is.CastingMichael flees to England on a fishing boat, and swiftly disarms an

assassin heading for Elizabeth. "I would give you my life," he tells the queen.
"Would you?" she replies, caustically. "Would you give me your silly young life?" She's magnificent.
But Michael is distracted by the dewy beauty of her lady-in-waiting, Lord Burghley's fictional granddaughter, Cynthia (Vivien Leigh). This was Olivier and Leigh's first film together, and

they were both still married to other people at the time – though not for long.
They're disarmingly gorgeous on screen: Leigh sparkling and catlike; Olivier a 1930s Henry Cavill, only slightly less inflated and wearing more guyliner.Even
so, it's Robson who steals this show.
She may not be as stunning as her co-stars, but she's by turns charming, earthy and surprisingly vulnerable, with a crackling wit. She's perfect as Elizabeth – a role she reprised three years later, in Errol Flynn vehicle The Sea Hawk.SpyingElizabeth sends Michael to spy on Philip II (Raymond Massey).
"Make up the fire," the Spanish king orders a flunkey. "This hot April day?" asks the flunkey. Philip replies, in a tone that can only have been inspired by Bela Lugosi's Dracula: "I am. Always.
Cold."
Politically, you'd expect this film to be one-sided, and it is. There's a fun fictional subplot that allows Michael plenty of scope for sword fights, scampering around rooftops, setting fire to things and so forth, and gives him another go with the now-married Elena. Back in

England, Cynthia pines for him unwarrantedly.BattleThe film rejoins history at Tilbury, where Elizabeth is preparing to defeat the Spanish Armada. The navy's real commanders, Francis Drake and Lord Howard, have been written out of the film;

instead, it's Michael who sends the fireships. To Elizabeth's annoyance, he wants to celebrate afterwards by marrying Cynthia. This leaves the queen with no one to flirt with, except her troublesome old flame the Earl of Leicester (Leslie Banks). "I'll have no married folk at my court," she growls. "I'm a married man," Leicester admits,

earning the queenly riposte: "More fool you."VerdictThough
Fire Over England is fictionalised, it's entertaining and has a decent grasp of the historical context. Moreover,

its Elizabeth is one of the finest you'll see on

screen.Period and historicalDramaFilm criticismLaurence OlivierAlex von Tunzelmannguardian.co.uk
© 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds France easily defeated Uzbekistan, cementing its status as one of the tournament favorites, and Felipe Avenatti scored in extra time to give Uruguay a win over Spain.    
"Brokeback Mountain," a groundbreaking film about a love affair between two cowboys, took top awards at the 63rd Golden