New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday approved online gambling within the state's border, a move that he hopes can help boost state revenues and revive Atlantic City casinos.
The measure, announced the same day that Christie unveiled his new budget plan for fiscal 2014, will legalize Internet gaming to New Jersey's 9 million residents and also create opportunities for European companies with expertise in running online gaming operations.
New Jersey, the 11th most populous state, will become the largest so far and the third in the United States to allow online gambling after Delaware and Nevada, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Nevada, home to international gambling Mecca Las Vegas, last week became the first U.S. state to allow interstate online poker.
"We are offering a responsible yet exciting option that will make Atlantic City more competitive, while also bringing financial benefits to New Jersey as a whole," Christie said in a statement.
The Republican governor signed the legislation after Democratic lawmakers agreed to make several changes, including a provision to review the program after 10 years to gauge its impact on problem gambling.
By legalizing internet gaming, New Jersey could see a huge jump in state casino revenue, to an estimated $436 million in fiscal 2014 from $235 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, according to budget documents.
Earlier this month, the prospect of a quick approval of online gambling in New Jersey spurred gains among gaming companies on both side of the Atlantic amid hopes it could unlock a market worth up to $1 billion.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Fat worms confirm that researchers from Michigan State University have successfully engineered a plant with oily leaves -- a feat that could enhance biofuel production as well as lead to improved animal feeds.
The results, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, show that researchers could use an algae gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves ? an uncommon occurrence for most plants.
Traditional biofuel research has focused on improving the oil content of seeds. One reason for this focus is because oil production in seeds occurs naturally. Little research, however, has been done to examine the oil production of leaves and stems, as plants don't typically store lipids in these tissues.
Christoph Benning, MSU professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, led a collaborative effort with colleagues from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. The team's efforts resulted in a significant early step toward producing better plants for biofuels.
"Many researchers are trying to enhance plants' energy density, and this is another way of approaching it," Benning said. "It's a proof-of-concept that could be used to boost plants' oil production for biofuel use as well as improve the nutrition levels of animal feed."
Benning and his colleagues began by identifying five genes from one-celled green algae. From the five, they identified one that, when inserted into Arabidopsis thaliana, successfully boosted oil levels in the plant's leaf tissue.
To confirm that the improved plants were more nutritious and contained more energy, the research team fed them to caterpillar larvae. The larvae that were fed oily leaves from the enhanced plants gained more weight than worms that ate regular leaves.
For the next phase of the research, Benning and his colleagues will work to enhance oil production in grasses and algae that have economic value. The benefits of this research are worth pursuing, Benning said.
"If oil can be extracted from leaves, stems and seeds, the potential energy capacity of plants may double," he said. "Further, if algae can be engineered to continuously produce high levels of oil, rather than only when they are under stress, they can become a viable alternative to traditional agricultural crops."
Moreover, algae can be grown on poor agricultural land ? a big plus in the food vs. fuel debate, he added.
"These basic research findings are significant in advancing the engineering of oil-producing plants," said Kenneth Keegstra, GLBRC scientific director and MSU University Distinguished Professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. "They will help write a new chapter on the development of production schemes that will enhance the quantity, quality and profitability of both traditional and nontraditional crops."
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Michigan State University: http://www.newsroom.msu.edu
Thanks to Michigan State University for this article.
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We already knew ASUS was prepping a product called the FonePad, a 7-inch tablet with built-in phone functionality (yes, just like the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0). Well, ASUS just formally unveiled it here at Mobile World Congress, which means we've got a few more details to share than we did previously. First off, the speculation about its specs was all true: this does indeed have an Intel processor -- a 1.2GHz Atom Z2420, to be exact -- along with 1GB of RAM, a PowerVR SGX540 GPU, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and an HSPA+ radio. What's more, the 4,270mAH battery is said to get up to nine hours of runtime, which would put this in the same league as other Atom tablets we've tested recently.
In terms of hardware features, the FonePad has a smooth metal back (available in gray and gold), making it drastically different in appearance from the similarly sized Nexus 7. 'Round back you'll find a panel where all the usual antennae are, and hidden underneath are both the micro-SIM slot and the microSD reader. That microSD slot, by the way, supports 32GB cards, which should come in handy considering this has just 16GB of built-in storage. Additionally, the tablet has a 1.2-megapixel front camera, attached to a 7-inch, 1,280 x 800 IPS display.
The FonePad will be available in Europe for £179 / €219. Here at MWC, ASUS also confirmed a US dollar price of $249, though we had heard rumblings it wouldn't actually be sold there. It arrives in March, but the specific on-sale date hasn't been revealed yet. We're hoping to test one ourselves soon enough, but until then, stay tuned for the usual round of hands-on shots.
Update: Our hands-on photos and video are in! Enjoy!
Kyocera's Smart Sonic receiver and tissue conduction technology have been around for some time, but this year at MWC, we had another chance to test it out. In case you didn't know, the receiver's a ceramic piezoelectric actuator that takes the place of a phone's speaker to let listeners hear phone calls in even the loudest environments. We got to test it out with a Kyocera Torque, and well... trust us, you'll want to see (and hear) the results in the video after the break.
LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, rebounding after the S&P 500 <.spx> posted its worst two-day loss since November.
Futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 were up 0.2-0.3 percent at 0958 GMT.
European shares rose and German Bund futures fell on Friday after a better-than-expected German Ifo survey.
Shares in Hewlett-Packard rose 2.9 percent in after-market trade as the computer maker's quarterly revenue and forecasts beat Wall Street expectations.
Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc raised its quarterly dividend by a third and said it will buy back an additional $5 billion in stock. TI shares rose 2 percent in after-market trading after closing at $32.48 on the Nasdaq.
Fellow chipmaker Marvell Technology Group Ltd forecast results this quarter largely above analysts' expectations as it gained market share in hard-disk drive and flash storage businesses, sending its shares up 5 percent after the closing bell.
Insurer American International Group Inc reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations, helping its shares rise 4.2 percent in after hours trade.
Citigroup Inc said on Thursday it has overhauled an executive pay plan that shareholders rejected last year as overly generous, revising it to tie bonus payments more closely to stock performance and profitability.
Newmont Mining Corp , the No. 1 U.S. gold producer, said on Thursday that a more disciplined approach to spending and cost cuts is its top priority as leadership of the company shifts to Gary Goldberg, who takes over as chief executive on March 1.
Private equity firm KKR & Co LP has submitted an offer of $75 per share for Gardner Denver Inc GDI.N, valuing the industrial machinery maker at close to $3.7 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Interpublic Group, the second-biggest U.S. advertising and marketing group, is expected to follow larger rival Omnicom in reporting upbeat quarterly results, with earnings per shares seen up $0.03 year on year to $0.53 on higher revenue from the United States.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> fell 46.92 points, or 0.34 percent, to 13,880.62 on Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> lost 9.53 points, or 0.63 percent, to 1,502.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> dropped 32.92 points, or 1.04 percent, to close at 3,131.49.
(Reporting By Francesco Canepa/editing by Chris Pizzey, London MPG Desk, +44 (0)207 542-4441)
Los Angeles, CA (February 22, 2013) Studies report that since 2004, suicides rates in the U.S. Army have been on the rise. While researchers debate the cause, a new study finds that among suicide cases from 2007 2010, young white males were more at risk than any other demographic. This study, out today, will be published in Armed Forces & Society, a SAGE journal published on behalf of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society.
Army Research Psychologists James Griffith and Mark Vaitkus analyzed data from the Army National Guard's (ARNG) personnel data system, from a routine data collection of ARNG soldiers returning from deployment, and Army reserve soldiers' responses to the 2009 Status of Forces Questionnaire. They found that 17-24 year-olds were an average of 1.59 times more likely to have committed suicide than their older peers, that males were 3.05 times more likely to have committed suicide than females, and that white soldiers were 1.85 times more likely to have committed suicide than other race groups.
Additionally, researchers found that for soldiers that had been deployed, combat exposure and other military-related variables showed little to no associations with suicide risk. These findings are consistent with those reported in other, independently conducted Army studies.
Researchers offered explanations for each of the three suicide patterns among ARNG soldiers. For example, as suicides in the Army are more likely to occur among 17 to 24 year-olds, Griffith and Vaitkus discussed how this younger age group is one in which individuals are likely to be struggling to define who they are and how they relate to others. "Self-identity provides the individual with a sense of worth and meaning, characteristics often absent in suicide cases," authors stated.
Griffith and Vaitkus also stated that African American, compared to white, communities often have better support systems, higher participation in religion, and have also been described to be more resilient in adapting to difficult life experiences.
With regards to differences between male and female soldiers, researchers stated that males are more likely to engage in behavior that would put them at risk for suicide such as familiarity with and use of fire arms and alcohol/substance abuse, that men are less likely to seek or develop social support, and that women benefit more from social integration than men.
Researchers stated that they hoped their findings would help identify those who are at risk for suicide and concluded, "after identifying those at risk, soldiers need to be managed and provided appropriate support and care." Nevertheless, they also noted that this is complicated for reservists who spend most of their time in "part-time" or civilian status. As reservists now number about one-half the active duty Army, the researchers argued for more deliberate thought on how best to screen reserve soldiers who are at-risk for suicide, especially with the recent increased reliance on the reserves. At present, reservists identified as at risk must rely on their own private health care for treatment, which is likely to be inadequate.
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Find out more by reading the article, "Perspectives on Suicide in the Army National Guard," in Armed Forces & Society (AFS). For access to this article, please email camille.gamboa@sagepub.com.
Armed Forces & Society (AFS), a quarterly publication, publishes articles on military institutions, civil-military relations, arms control and peacemaking, and conflict management. The journal is international in scope with a focus on historical, comparative, and interdisciplinary discourse. The editors and contributors include political scientists, sociologists, historians, psychologists, scholars, and economists, as well as specialists in military organization and strategy, arms control, and peacekeeping. http://afs.sagepub.com/
Two-Year Impact Factor: 0.815
Ranked: 67 out of 137 in Sociology and 52 out of 148 in Political Science
Five-Year Impact Factor: 0.918
Ranked: 64 out of 137 in Sociology and 52 out of 148 in Political Science
Source: 2011 Journal Citation Reports (Thomson Reuters, 2012)
Ranked in the top 10 Military Studies Journals in Google Scholar
The Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (IUS) is a forum for the interchange and assessment of research and scholarship in the social and behavioral sciences dealing with the military establishment and civil-military relations. The Fellows who make up the IUS include academics, military officers, researchers, and students representing a variety of private and public institutions and various academic disciplines. http://www.iusafs.org/
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New study examines the factors underlying suicides in the Army National GuardPublic release date: 22-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Los Angeles, CA (February 22, 2013) Studies report that since 2004, suicides rates in the U.S. Army have been on the rise. While researchers debate the cause, a new study finds that among suicide cases from 2007 2010, young white males were more at risk than any other demographic. This study, out today, will be published in Armed Forces & Society, a SAGE journal published on behalf of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society.
Army Research Psychologists James Griffith and Mark Vaitkus analyzed data from the Army National Guard's (ARNG) personnel data system, from a routine data collection of ARNG soldiers returning from deployment, and Army reserve soldiers' responses to the 2009 Status of Forces Questionnaire. They found that 17-24 year-olds were an average of 1.59 times more likely to have committed suicide than their older peers, that males were 3.05 times more likely to have committed suicide than females, and that white soldiers were 1.85 times more likely to have committed suicide than other race groups.
Additionally, researchers found that for soldiers that had been deployed, combat exposure and other military-related variables showed little to no associations with suicide risk. These findings are consistent with those reported in other, independently conducted Army studies.
Researchers offered explanations for each of the three suicide patterns among ARNG soldiers. For example, as suicides in the Army are more likely to occur among 17 to 24 year-olds, Griffith and Vaitkus discussed how this younger age group is one in which individuals are likely to be struggling to define who they are and how they relate to others. "Self-identity provides the individual with a sense of worth and meaning, characteristics often absent in suicide cases," authors stated.
Griffith and Vaitkus also stated that African American, compared to white, communities often have better support systems, higher participation in religion, and have also been described to be more resilient in adapting to difficult life experiences.
With regards to differences between male and female soldiers, researchers stated that males are more likely to engage in behavior that would put them at risk for suicide such as familiarity with and use of fire arms and alcohol/substance abuse, that men are less likely to seek or develop social support, and that women benefit more from social integration than men.
Researchers stated that they hoped their findings would help identify those who are at risk for suicide and concluded, "after identifying those at risk, soldiers need to be managed and provided appropriate support and care." Nevertheless, they also noted that this is complicated for reservists who spend most of their time in "part-time" or civilian status. As reservists now number about one-half the active duty Army, the researchers argued for more deliberate thought on how best to screen reserve soldiers who are at-risk for suicide, especially with the recent increased reliance on the reserves. At present, reservists identified as at risk must rely on their own private health care for treatment, which is likely to be inadequate.
###
Find out more by reading the article, "Perspectives on Suicide in the Army National Guard," in Armed Forces & Society (AFS). For access to this article, please email camille.gamboa@sagepub.com.
Armed Forces & Society (AFS), a quarterly publication, publishes articles on military institutions, civil-military relations, arms control and peacemaking, and conflict management. The journal is international in scope with a focus on historical, comparative, and interdisciplinary discourse. The editors and contributors include political scientists, sociologists, historians, psychologists, scholars, and economists, as well as specialists in military organization and strategy, arms control, and peacekeeping. http://afs.sagepub.com/
Two-Year Impact Factor: 0.815
Ranked: 67 out of 137 in Sociology and 52 out of 148 in Political Science
Five-Year Impact Factor: 0.918
Ranked: 64 out of 137 in Sociology and 52 out of 148 in Political Science
Source: 2011 Journal Citation Reports (Thomson Reuters, 2012)
Ranked in the top 10 Military Studies Journals in Google Scholar
The Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (IUS) is a forum for the interchange and assessment of research and scholarship in the social and behavioral sciences dealing with the military establishment and civil-military relations. The Fellows who make up the IUS include academics, military officers, researchers, and students representing a variety of private and public institutions and various academic disciplines. http://www.iusafs.org/
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The MSI GT70 One-609US Dragon Edition is every inch a gamer's PC, from the goofy spelled out number in the model name to the coiled dragons emblazoned across the lid and palmrest. A rainbow of colors bursts from the keyboard backlight, and though it will cost you a good chunk of change, the performance is very good. Some gamers like basic black, and others want custom paint jobs, but for most gamers, the GT70 One Dragon Edition offers everything you might want at a price that isn't too astronomical.
Design
Like most gaming laptops, the GT70 One Dragon Edition is one big system. Measuring 2.17 by 16.85 by 11.34 inches (HWD)?similar to the Maingear Nomad 17 Ultimate?it won't even fit into the laptop compartment of most bags. With a weight of 8.29 pounds (10.45 pounds if you include the power adapter), carrying it around is a backbreaking proposition. You'll be able to take it with you to a LAN party, but this beast will be fairly stationary from day to day. If you want something more portable, there's always the slim Razer Blade (2012).
The chassis is primarily constructed of plastic, with a reinforcing layer of aluminum across the lid and palmrest. To really drive home the "Dragon Edition" tag, the silhouette of a coiled dragon is imprinted into the brushed crimson anodized aluminum on the lid and palmrest. The 17.6-inch display looks good with a 1,920-by-1,080 resolution IPS panel, though the viewing angles are only so-so, with shifts in color when viewed at an angle. For the gamer sitting dead-center in front of the screen, however, the display is excellent. And anti-reflective coating also cuts down on any distracting glare.
The keyboard, manufactured by SteelSeries, features multi-colored backlight. Different colors can be assigned to different portions of the keyboard, and several distinctive lightning patterns can be selected, letting you light up the board with a rainbow of colors. The keys themselves are chiclet-style and provide excellent feedback, but the layout could be improved. The QWERTY keyboard and the 10-key numeric pad aren't physically separated, and as a result, the arrow keys are crammed in between, resulting in a half-size Shift key to accommodate the Up arrow, and a half-size 0 key on the keypad. This is an especially puzzling design choice since there is ample room for all of the keys; there is an extra inch and half of space on either side of the keyboard.
Above the keyboard are two metal speaker grilles, covering the Dynaudio stereo speakers, which are complimented further by a built in subwoofer. THX TruStudio Pro software sound optimization further improves the sound quality. Whether we tested it with the latest Iron Man 3 trailer or the intricate beats of Daft Punk, the quality was good, producing crisp clear sound and good volume.
Features
MSI has outfitted the GT70 One Dragon Edition with as rich a selection of ports as you'll find on a gaming laptop. On the right is a tray-loading Blu-ray drive (BD-R/BD/DVD-RW Dual Layer) and two USB 2.0 ports; on the left, three USB 3.0 ports, a 7-in-1 card slot (SD/SDXC/SDHC/MMC/MS/Pro/xD), and four audio connectors?Microphone input, Headphone out, Line-in Audio?with gold plating for lower noise and distortion, and MSI Audio Boost with integrated amplification for better sound.
The rear of the laptop has a power connector, VGA output, eSATA port, and HDMI output. A Kensington lock slot lets you physically secure the laptop, a must for larger LAN parties and tournaments. For networking, the GT70 One Dragon Edition is equipped with a Killer DoubleShot configuration network adapter, which combines 802.11n Wi-Fi and Ethernet. Both are optimized for speed, prioritizing latency-sensitive application traffic. The result is improved performance for online gaming, and video streaming.
More than a full terabyte of data storage is available, thanks to the combination of a 750GB 7,400 rpm hard drive and two 128GB solid-state drives (SSD) in RAID 0 (striped) array. The combination makes for a sizable amount of storage and optimum performance. MSI doesn't put any needless software onto its new systems, just the Windows 8 (64-bit) operating system and a few tools for backup and calibration, so the new GT70 One Dragon Edition has nearly all of that storage space available right out of the box.
MSI covers the GT70 Dragon Edition with a one-year warranty covering parts and labor. It also includes a gaming-rig sized backpack?since most laptop bags simply can handle something so big?and an over-sized dogtag-like id plate, that can either be attached to the bag or worn like something you'd see on a geeky Mr. T.
If you thought Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man character took a cold, calculating approach to gambling, he's got nothing on Yaskawa Motoman Robotics' new SDA10F blackjack dealing robot. Using a sophisticated vision system it's even able to recognize the cards it's dealing, so casinos could still use their standard Bicycle decks. More »
Technology entrepreneur Daniel Gulati sat down with a group of professionals ages 28 to 58 working in a variety of fields to discuss their greatest career regrets and found five major themes.
?I wish I hadn?t taken the job for the money.? More money didn?t lead to more happiness, but instead left people feeling trapped in unsatisfying jobs because they came to rely on a high income.
?I wish I had quit earlier.? People found that when they finally did quit jobs that made them unhappy, they wished they had done it sooner.
?I wish I had the confidence to start my own business.? Plenty of people have business ideas and aspirations of entrepreneurship, but most end up regretting not putting those ideas into action.
?I wish I had used my time at school more productively.? There are a lot of things you can do in school that you can?t once you have a career, a mortgage and a family.
?I wish I had acted on my career hunches.? Several people looked back on moments where they could have taken a different road, but didn?t and wish they had.
? Adapted from ?The Top Five Career Regrets,? Daniel Gulati, Harvard Business Review?s HBR Blog Network.
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On February 21, 67 years ago, a man was born. This man was actor, an actor who could find the perfect way to deliver a line, even if it took twice the normal amount of time to recite it. An actor with a voice that would inspire a legion of imitations and launch thousands of [...]
Feb. 21, 2013 ? "The sounds uttered by birds offer in several respects the nearest analogy to language," Charles Darwin wrote in "The Descent of Man" (1871), while contemplating how humans learned to speak. Language, he speculated, might have had its origins in singing, which "might have given rise to words expressive of various complex emotions."
Now researchers from MIT, along with a scholar from the University of Tokyo, say that Darwin was on the right path. The balance of evidence, they believe, suggests that human language is a grafting of two communication forms found elsewhere in the animal kingdom: first, the elaborate songs of birds, and second, the more utilitarian, information-bearing types of expression seen in a diversity of other animals.
"It's this adventitious combination that triggered human language," says Shigeru Miyagawa, a professor of linguistics in MIT's Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, and co-author of a new paper published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
The idea builds upon Miyagawa's conclusion, detailed in his previous work, that there are two "layers" in all human languages: an "expression" layer, which involves the changeable organization of sentences, and a "lexical" layer, which relates to the core content of a sentence. His conclusion is based on earlier work by linguists including Noam Chomsky, Kenneth Hale and Samuel Jay Keyser.
Based on an analysis of animal communication, and using Miyagawa's framework, the authors say that birdsong closely resembles the expression layer of human sentences -- whereas the communicative waggles of bees, or the short, audible messages of primates, are more like the lexical layer. At some point, between 50,000 and 80,000 years ago, humans may have merged these two types of expression into a uniquely sophisticated form of language.
"There were these two pre-existing systems," Miyagawa says, "like apples and oranges that just happened to be put together."
These kinds of adaptations of existing structures are common in natural history, notes Robert Berwick, a co-author of the paper, who is a professor of computational linguistics in MIT's Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
"When something new evolves, it is often built out of old parts," Berwick says. "We see this over and over again in evolution. Old structures can change just a little bit, and acquire radically new functions."
A new chapter in the songbook
The new paper, "The Emergence of Hierarchical Structure in Human Language," was co-written by Miyagawa, Berwick and Kazuo Okanoya, a biopsychologist at the University of Tokyo who is an expert on animal communication.
To consider the difference between the expression layer and the lexical layer, take a simple sentence: "Todd saw a condor." We can easily create variations of this, such as, "When did Todd see a condor?" This rearranging of elements takes place in the expression layer and allows us to add complexity and ask questions. But the lexical layer remains the same, since it involves the same core elements: the subject, "Todd," the verb, "to see," and the object, "condor."
Birdsong lacks a lexical structure. Instead, birds sing learned melodies with what Berwick calls a "holistic" structure; the entire song has one meaning, whether about mating, territory or other things. The Bengalese finch, as the authors note, can loop back to parts of previous melodies, allowing for greater variation and communication of more things; a nightingale may be able to recite from 100 to 200 different melodies.
By contrast, other types of animals have bare-bones modes of expression without the same melodic capacity. Bees communicate visually, using precise waggles to indicate sources of foods to their peers; other primates can make a range of sounds, comprising warnings about predators and other messages.
Humans, according to Miyagawa, Berwick and Okanoya, fruitfully combined these systems. We can communicate essential information, like bees or primates -- but like birds, we also have a melodic capacity and an ability to recombine parts of our uttered language. For this reason, our finite vocabularies can generate a seemingly infinite string of words. Indeed, the researchers suggest that humans first had the ability to sing, as Darwin conjectured, and then managed to integrate specific lexical elements into those songs.
"It's not a very long step to say that what got joined together was the ability to construct these complex patterns, like a song, but with words," Berwick says.
As they note in the paper, some of the "striking parallels" between language acquisition in birds and humans include the phase of life when each is best at picking up languages, and the part of the brain used for language. Another similarity, Berwick notes, relates to an insight of celebrated MIT professor emeritus of linguistics Morris Halle, who, as Berwick puts it, observed that "all human languages have a finite number of stress patterns, a certain number of beat patterns. Well, in birdsong, there is also this limited number of beat patterns."
Birds and bees
The researchers acknowledge that further empirical studies on the subject would be desirable.
"It's just a hypothesis," Berwick says. "But it's a way to make explicit what Darwin was talking about very vaguely, because we know more about language now."
Miyagawa, for his part, asserts it is a viable idea in part because it could be subject to more scrutiny, as the communication patterns of other species are examined in further detail. "If this is right, then human language has a precursor in nature, in evolution, that we can actually test today," he says, adding that bees, birds and other primates could all be sources of further research insight.
MIT-based research in linguistics has largely been characterized by the search for universal aspects of all human languages. With this paper, Miyagawa, Berwick and Okanoya hope to spur others to think of the universality of language in evolutionary terms. It is not just a random cultural construct, they say, but based in part on capacities humans share with other species. At the same time, Miyagawa notes, human language is unique, in that two independent systems in nature merged, in our species, to allow us to generate unbounded linguistic possibilities, albeit within a constrained system.
"Human language is not just freeform, but it is rule-based," Miyagawa says. "If we are right, human language has a very heavy constraint on what it can and cannot do, based on its antecedents in nature."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Peter Dizikes.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Shigeru Miyagawa, Robert C. Berwick, Kazuo Okanoya. The Emergence of Hierarchical Structure in Human Language. Frontiers in Psychology, 2013; 4 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00071
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February 20, 2013 04:31:53 GMT Ben and Leslie will enlist the help of the whole team to prepare for their quickie wedding, which will be featured in a February 21 episode.
Ben () and Leslie () will finally tie the knot in the next episode of "". After deciding to get hitched at the black tie gala in the previous episode, the couple only has two hours to prepare for their quickie wedding.
In for the upcoming outing, Ben and Leslie are seen assigning the parks department staff to get the wedding dress, cake and marriage license, as well as to officiate the wedding. In another short preview, fans can get a quick glimpse at Leslie wearing her wedding gown with Ron walking her down the aisle.
The new episode of "Parks and Rec" featuring the wedding of Ben and Leslie will air Thursday, February 21 at 8:30 P.M. on NBC. It will be a super-sized episode, being extended to one hour.
Last November, NBC pulled a "" wedding for key character Liz Lemon () before the show ended its run in late January. On her special day, Liz channeled Princess Leia complete with her costume and hair style and chose an equally unique wedding ring, a knuckle ring spelling out "Tito" which she bought from a City Hall police auction.
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, says she plans to make good use of "my victory" when she leaves on an 80-day-tour of more than a dozen countries on Sunday.
Sanchez, under Cuba's sweeping migration reform that went into effect this year, was given her passport two weeks ago, after being denied permission to travel more than 20 times over the past five years.
Sanchez, considered Cuba's pioneer in social networking, told Reuters on Thursday that she would visit the headquarters of Google, Twitter and Facebook, and travel to Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, the United States, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and other nations.
"This is a victory after fighting five years for my right to travel, using patience, energy, legal and journalistic tools, and most of all the solidarity of many people," she said, as she left her home Thursday morning to pick up a visa at a local embassy.
"I feel like a runner who has run the 110 meter hurdle. Tired, exhausted but happy to have met the challenge," she added.
Sanchez, a 37-year-old Havana resident, has earned the wrath of Cuba's communist government for constantly criticizing the system in her "Generation Y" blog, and using Twitter to denounce repression.
Sanchez, one of the world's best known bloggers, has tens of thousands of followers abroad, but few in Cuba where the Internet is severely restricted by the government.
Her blog is named after the penchant of Cuban parents during the Cold War era of Soviet backing for the island to choose names for their children starting with "Y," in a nod to the many popular Russian names starting with that letter.
Cuba's leaders consider dissidents traitorous mercenaries in the employ of the United States and other enemies, and official bloggers regularly charge Sanchez's international renown has been stage-managed by western intelligence services.
Sanchez, who has won a number of international prizes for her blog but was denied permission to collect them, said she would now do so during her travels.
'VARIOUS OBJECTIVES'
"I have various objectives. I am going to give conferences at various universities, present my book (a collection of her blogs), receive the prizes I wasn't given permission to collect before and meet my readers, many of whom have followed me for six years," Sanchez said.
Sanchez' case is viewed as a test of the Cuban government's commitment to free travel under reforms that require only a passport, renewed every two years, to leave the country.
Other leading dissidents have also received passports, though two less well known government opponents, Angel Moya and Gisela Delgado, have been denied.
The old travel law was put in place in 1961 to slow the flight of Cubans after the island's 1959 revolution.
The new law got rid of the much-hated need to obtain an exit visa and loosened other restrictions that had discouraged Cubans from leaving.
It was one of the wide-ranging reforms President Raul Castro has enacted since he succeeded his older brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008.
There are still travel restrictions, mainly for reasons of national security and for those with pending legal cases, which may affect a number of dissidents like Moya, who is on parole after being jailed in a 2003 crackdown on dissent.
"It's sweet-and-sour news. Yoani will travel to Mexico, Spain, Germany, and visit New York and Washington, DC., and that's 'sweet' for Cubans everywhere. But, as with most things emanating from official Cuba, it's also 'sour,'" said Marifeli P?rez-Stable, Interim Director at Florida International University's Latin American and Caribbean Center in Miami.
"That she was given a passport and others have been denied underscores the arbitrariness of the migration reform," she added.
Sanchez said the travel reform fell short of "granting to anyone born on this island the inherent right to come and go," but nevertheless was a step forward that will have an "incalculable political and social impact," including for the government.
"In a way I am the flag bearer of this new era that's beginning, where civil society is going to have access to international spaces and an international microphone and return with more information, knowledge and contacts," Sanchez said.
(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by David Adams and Vicki Allen)
TALLAHASSEE -- Just call them the ACC?s escape artists.
Once again, the Miami Hurricanes danced out of danger and evaded a scare on the road when they powered past an energetic, upset-minded Florida State team at the Donald L. Tucker Center Wednesday night. The ?Canes scored a 74-68 win over the rival Seminoles.
The victory was Miami?s 12th straight and extended an 11-game winning streak to open its conference slate. The Hurricanes continue on as the ACC?s only unbeaten team. Ahead of a game at Clemson Sunday, the win added to an already good week for the Hurricanes. On Monday, seven days after being named the nation?s eighth-best team, they earned a No. 3 ranking. It is the highest in school history.
At this point, Miami certainly appears destined to claim its first ACC championship.
Conversely, one year removed from winning their first league title since joining the conference, the Seminoles this season are going in the complete opposite direction. They are under .500 in ACC play for the first time this year, and are watching the losses continue to mount.
As has been the Hurricanes? (20-3, 11-0 ACC) mantra all season, offense was the key to their success against the Seminoles (13-11, 5-6). Shooting a season-high 63.8 percent from the field, they had an even better performance on that side of the ball than they did in the third game of the season when they shot the previous season-high of 59 percent.
Sophomore guard Shane Larkin was Miami?s offensive hero, scoring 22 points and adding four assists in 36 minutes. He was 9-for-15 from the field, including a 2-for-4 performance from beyond the 3-point arc.
A day before his Seminoles were to play Miami, coach Leonard Hamilton wasted little time heaping praise upon the Hurricanes? shifty sophomore point guard.
?He?s the real deal, Hamilton said at the start of his pregame remarks Tuesday.
Larkin, an Orlando native, showed exactly why Hamilton delivered the praise.
Despite losing, the Seminoles showed flashes that they might have been able to pull Wednesday<0x2019>s game out. They trailed by as little as three points with one minute remaining in the game. On one of its final possessions, FSU tried to get the ball into hot-shooting guard Michael Snaer?s hands. The Hurricanes, however, had him covered.
Instead, junior Ian Miller took a hopeful 3-pointer that rimmed out. Had it fallen, it would have tied the game with about 20 seconds to go.
During the loss, FSU displayed the rare combination of a newer, more intense, more aggressive style of play from a new-look starting five that played much of the game. Combined with the energy the mostly-full arena, the Seminoles were buoyed in the second half by a strong performance off the bench by sophomore guard Terry Whisnant. The Charlotte, N.C., native, who had started every game since FSU?s Dec. 2 loss to Mercer, was benched for an unspecified reason.
When Whisnant checked in for the first time with 13:05 left in the second half, he provided an instant spark. About a minute later, he knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner in front of FSU?s bench. Some 23 seconds after that, he buried a second straight 3 that cut into a four-point Hurricanes lead. About a minute-and-a-half later, an Okaro White tip-in tied the game at 51.
However, it wasn?t enough to slow down the ACC?s hottest team.
Opera and Skyfire at one time were popular browser alternatives in a time in which stock browsers were sorely lacking. Improvements to Sarafi on iOS, Chrome on Android and, yes, even IE on Windows Phone have meant third-party options have to rely more on additional features rather than straight function. Today, two of those upstarts -- Opera and Skyfire -- announced they're getting in bed together.
Specifically, Opera is purchasing Skyfire for $50 million up front, with future considerations that could total the deal at $155 million.
“Opera and Skyfire are a natural fit,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “Both companies have evolved far beyond their browser roots. Skyfire adds capabilities to our portfolio around video, app optimization, smartphones and tablets, and strength in North America. With video expected to consume over two-thirds of global mobile bandwidth by 2015, and as time spent on Android and iOS apps explodes, we are excited to extend Opera’s solutions for operators.”
The companies in their press release announced their intention to release a new "set of joint products to be released over the coming year by combining their talents and know-how." Opera's "Web Pass" day pass service was mentioned in particular.
In this Feb. 7, 2012 file photo, Australian John Fahey, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, speaks during a WADA Media Symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland. The widespread drug use by elite athletes and links with organized crime uncovered in a year-long government investigation have rocked a nation that prides itself on its sporting achievements and its collective notion of fair play. "The findings are shocking and will disgust Australian sports fans," Justice Minister Jason Clare said as he fronted a news conference in Canberra, the national capital, on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, to reveal that "multiple athletes from a number of clubs in major Australian sporting codes are suspected of currently using or having used," performance enhancing substances. (AP Photo/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott, File)
In this Feb. 7, 2012 file photo, Australian John Fahey, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA, speaks during a WADA Media Symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland. The widespread drug use by elite athletes and links with organized crime uncovered in a year-long government investigation have rocked a nation that prides itself on its sporting achievements and its collective notion of fair play. "The findings are shocking and will disgust Australian sports fans," Justice Minister Jason Clare said as he fronted a news conference in Canberra, the national capital, on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, to reveal that "multiple athletes from a number of clubs in major Australian sporting codes are suspected of currently using or having used," performance enhancing substances. (AP Photo/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott, File)
LONDON (AP) ? The World Anti-Doping Agency is urging soccer to conduct more blood doping tests and intelligence operations to unmask cheating players.
WADA Director General David Howman warned on Tuesday that "team sports players can go their entire career without being tested."
WADA President John Fahey added that "football is not testing enough for (blood-boosting) EPO ... we are encouraging them to do more."
Last week, Spain's anti-doping agency announced it was examining claims by a former president of Spanish team Real Sociedad that its players used performance-enhancing substances.
Fahey also urged soccer to "use intelligence" after highlighting its importance to building a case against Lance Armstrong.
Fahey says sport must be "alert to the increasingly sophisticated science available to athletes today and to the growing influence of the underworld."
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Public release date: 22-Feb-2013
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