New method of growing high-quality graphene promising for next-gen technology

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Oct-2011
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Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst
melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu
805-893-4301
University of California - Santa Barbara

Method refined by UC Santa Barbara scientists to synthesize sheets of 'wonder material' graphene is promising link to futuristic technology

(UC Santa Barbara) Making waves as the material that will revolutionize electronics, graphene composed of a single layer of Carbon atoms has nonetheless been challenging to produce in a way that will be practical for innovative electronics applications. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have discovered a method to synthesize high quality graphene in a controlled manner that may pave the way for next-generation electronics application.

Kaustav Banerjee, a professor with the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and Director of the Nanoelectronics Research Lab at UCSB that has been studying carbon nanomaterials for more than seven years, led the research team to perfect methods of growing sheets of graphene, as detailed in a study to be published in the November 2011 issue of the journal Carbon.

"Our process has certain unique advantages that give rise to high quality graphene," says Banerjee. "For the electronics industry to effectively use graphene, it must first be grown selectively and in larger sheets. We have developed a synthesis technique that yields high- quality and high-uniformity graphene that can be translated into a scalable process for industry applications."

Using adhesive tape to lift flakes of graphene from graphite, University of Manchester researchers Geim and Novoselov were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering isolation and characterization of the material. To launch graphene into futuristic applications, however, researchers have been seeking a controlled and efficient way to grow a higher quality of this single-atom-thick material in larger areas.

The discovery by UCSB researchers turns graphene production into an industry-friendly process by improving the quality and uniformity of graphene using efficient and reproducible methods. They were able to control the number of graphene layers produced from mono-layer to bi-layer graphene an important distinction for future applications in electronics and other technology.

"Intel has a keen interest in graphene due to many possibilities it holds for the next generation of energy- efficient computing, but there are many roadblocks along the way," added Intel Fellow, Shekhar Borkar. "The scalable synthesis technique developed by Professor Banerjee's group at UCSB is an important step forward."

As a material, graphene is the thinnest and strongest in the world more than 100 times stronger than diamond and is capable of acting as an ultimate conductor at room temperature. If it can be produced effectively, graphene's properties make it ideal for advancements in green electronics, super strong materials, and medical technology. Graphene could be used to make flexible screens and electronic devices, computers with 1,000 GHz processors that run on virtually no energy, and ultra-efficient solar power cells.

Key to the UCSB team's discovery is their understanding of graphene growth kinetics under the influence of the substrate. Their approach uses a method called low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) and involves disintegrating the hydrocarbon gas methane at a specific high temperature to build uniform layers of carbon (as graphene) on a pretreated copper substrate. Banerjee's research group established a set of techniques that optimized the uniformity and quality of graphene, while controlling the number of graphene layers they grew on their substrate.

According to Dr. Wei Liu, a post-doctoral researcher and co-author of the study, "Graphene growth is strongly affected by imperfection sites on the copper substrate. By proper treatment of the copper surface and precise selection of the growth parameters, the quality and uniformity of graphene are significantly improved and the number of graphene layers can be controlled."

Professor Banerjee and credited authors Wei Liu, Hong Li, Chuan Xu and Yasin Khatami are not the first research team to make graphene using the CVD method, but they are the first to successfully refine critical methods to grow a high quality of graphene. In the past, a key challenge for the CVD method has been that it yields a lower quality of graphene in terms of carrier mobility or how well it conducts electrons. "Our graphene exhibits the highest reported field-effect mobility to date for CVD graphene, having an average value of 4000 cm2/V.s with the highest peak value at 5500 cm2/V.s. This is an extremely high value compared with the mobility of silicon." added Hong Li, a Ph.D. candidate in Banerjee's research group.

"Kaustav Banerjee's group is leading graphene nanoelectronics research efforts at UCSB, from material synthesis to device design and circuit exploration. His work has provided our campus with unique and very powerful capabilities," added David Awschalom, Professor of Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCSB where Banerjee's laboratory is located. "This new facility has also boosted our opportunities for collaborations across various science and engineering disciplines."

"There is no doubt graphene is a superior material. Intrinsically it is amazing," says Banerjee. "It is up to us, the scientists and engineers, to show how we can use graphene and harness its capabilities. There are challenges in how to grow it, how to transfer or not to transfer and pattern it, and how to tailor its properties for specific applications. But these challenges are fertile grounds for exciting research in the future."

###

Their research was supported by the National Science Foundation and conducted at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) and Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) facilities at UC Santa Barbara.


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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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst
melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu
805-893-4301
University of California - Santa Barbara

Method refined by UC Santa Barbara scientists to synthesize sheets of 'wonder material' graphene is promising link to futuristic technology

(UC Santa Barbara) Making waves as the material that will revolutionize electronics, graphene composed of a single layer of Carbon atoms has nonetheless been challenging to produce in a way that will be practical for innovative electronics applications. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have discovered a method to synthesize high quality graphene in a controlled manner that may pave the way for next-generation electronics application.

Kaustav Banerjee, a professor with the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and Director of the Nanoelectronics Research Lab at UCSB that has been studying carbon nanomaterials for more than seven years, led the research team to perfect methods of growing sheets of graphene, as detailed in a study to be published in the November 2011 issue of the journal Carbon.

"Our process has certain unique advantages that give rise to high quality graphene," says Banerjee. "For the electronics industry to effectively use graphene, it must first be grown selectively and in larger sheets. We have developed a synthesis technique that yields high- quality and high-uniformity graphene that can be translated into a scalable process for industry applications."

Using adhesive tape to lift flakes of graphene from graphite, University of Manchester researchers Geim and Novoselov were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering isolation and characterization of the material. To launch graphene into futuristic applications, however, researchers have been seeking a controlled and efficient way to grow a higher quality of this single-atom-thick material in larger areas.

The discovery by UCSB researchers turns graphene production into an industry-friendly process by improving the quality and uniformity of graphene using efficient and reproducible methods. They were able to control the number of graphene layers produced from mono-layer to bi-layer graphene an important distinction for future applications in electronics and other technology.

"Intel has a keen interest in graphene due to many possibilities it holds for the next generation of energy- efficient computing, but there are many roadblocks along the way," added Intel Fellow, Shekhar Borkar. "The scalable synthesis technique developed by Professor Banerjee's group at UCSB is an important step forward."

As a material, graphene is the thinnest and strongest in the world more than 100 times stronger than diamond and is capable of acting as an ultimate conductor at room temperature. If it can be produced effectively, graphene's properties make it ideal for advancements in green electronics, super strong materials, and medical technology. Graphene could be used to make flexible screens and electronic devices, computers with 1,000 GHz processors that run on virtually no energy, and ultra-efficient solar power cells.

Key to the UCSB team's discovery is their understanding of graphene growth kinetics under the influence of the substrate. Their approach uses a method called low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) and involves disintegrating the hydrocarbon gas methane at a specific high temperature to build uniform layers of carbon (as graphene) on a pretreated copper substrate. Banerjee's research group established a set of techniques that optimized the uniformity and quality of graphene, while controlling the number of graphene layers they grew on their substrate.

According to Dr. Wei Liu, a post-doctoral researcher and co-author of the study, "Graphene growth is strongly affected by imperfection sites on the copper substrate. By proper treatment of the copper surface and precise selection of the growth parameters, the quality and uniformity of graphene are significantly improved and the number of graphene layers can be controlled."

Professor Banerjee and credited authors Wei Liu, Hong Li, Chuan Xu and Yasin Khatami are not the first research team to make graphene using the CVD method, but they are the first to successfully refine critical methods to grow a high quality of graphene. In the past, a key challenge for the CVD method has been that it yields a lower quality of graphene in terms of carrier mobility or how well it conducts electrons. "Our graphene exhibits the highest reported field-effect mobility to date for CVD graphene, having an average value of 4000 cm2/V.s with the highest peak value at 5500 cm2/V.s. This is an extremely high value compared with the mobility of silicon." added Hong Li, a Ph.D. candidate in Banerjee's research group.

"Kaustav Banerjee's group is leading graphene nanoelectronics research efforts at UCSB, from material synthesis to device design and circuit exploration. His work has provided our campus with unique and very powerful capabilities," added David Awschalom, Professor of Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCSB where Banerjee's laboratory is located. "This new facility has also boosted our opportunities for collaborations across various science and engineering disciplines."

"There is no doubt graphene is a superior material. Intrinsically it is amazing," says Banerjee. "It is up to us, the scientists and engineers, to show how we can use graphene and harness its capabilities. There are challenges in how to grow it, how to transfer or not to transfer and pattern it, and how to tailor its properties for specific applications. But these challenges are fertile grounds for exciting research in the future."

###

Their research was supported by the National Science Foundation and conducted at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) and Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) facilities at UC Santa Barbara.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/uoc--nmo101411.php

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How safe is your hospital? Website lets you check

Medicare has begun publishing patient safety ratings for thousands of hospitals as the first step toward paying less to institutions with high rates of surgical complications, infections, mishaps and potentially avoidable deaths.

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The new data, available on Medicare?s Hospital Compare website, evaluate hospitals on how often their patients suffer complications such as a collapsed lung, a blood clot after surgery or an accidental cut or tear during treatment. The measures also include specific death rates for patients who had breathing problems after surgery, had an operation to repair a weakness in the abdominal aorta or had a treatable complication after an operation.

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In addition, Hospital Compare is evaluating rates of some specific medical errors, such as giving patients the wrong type of blood, leaving surgical implements in patients? bodies during surgery and falls that occur during their stay.

The evaluations are part of Medicare?s broad move from paying hospitals a set amount for each procedure. That change was directed by last year?s health care law, which set up new ?value-based purchasing program? that will begin in October 2012. Over time, hospitals with the lowest quality?as judged by a variety of metrics, not just the new patient safety measures?will be at risk to lose up to 2 percent of their regular Medicare reimbursements under the health law.

The new data on patient safety moves Medicare further along toward its ultimate goal, which is to base payments on the actual medical outcomes for patients. To rate hospitals, Medicare is comparing them to the national rates for medical complications and hospital acquired conditions. For instance, on average, 2.1 out of every 1,000 patients discharged suffered an accidental cut and tear from medical treatment. Out of 100 patients, 4.4 on average died after surgery to repair a weakness in their abdominal aorta.

By looking at how a hospital compares to the national average on this and other complication statistics, Medicare has come up with overall evaluations of how good hospitals are at avoiding complications and hospital-acquired conditions. Medicare is aiming to incorporate the new patient safety data into payments in the second year of the program.

Making this information public has been long favored by patient safety advocates. ?This is pulling the curtain back on preventable health care harm to older Americans,? said Rosemary Gibson, co-author of ?The Treatment Trap? and editor of a series of articles on overtreatment in the Archives of Internal Medicine. ?These are really good things to know. We are really getting into the meat of what can happen to patients in hospitals.?

How to check your hospital

  1. To find find out how hospitals in your area compare to the national average, go to the website http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/, type in the city and state, click on the hospital name and then select the ?Patient Safety Measures? tab at the left. Hospital Compare also gives patients the option of choosing several hospitals at once. The new data covers the period between October 2008 and June 2010.

But the latest data is intensifying objections from the hospital industry and some academic researchers that Medicare is using dubious and unfair measurements in ways that will hurt some hospitals, particularly those with sicker patients. The data is based on billing claims that hospitals submit to the government, not clinical medical records. One concern held by hospitals and researchers is that hospitals categorize the same things differently when billing Medicare, skewing comparisons.

?Medicare claims data is the thing a lot of people judge from, but it?s a large database and frankly I?ve always wondered if apples and oranges are being mixed,? said Dr. Gerald Healy, a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a Massachusetts nonprofit, and past president of the American College of Surgeons.

Hospital officials said their initial review of the new data has exacerbated their concerns that Medicare?s calculations do not fully take into account the fact that some hospitals do more surgeries or treat sicker patients.

?We believe the data is fairly seriously flawed in the way it?s calculated,? said Nancy Foster, a vice president at the American Hospital Association. ?When inaccurate data is out there, it both misleads the public and generates a lot of activity that is unproductive in the hospital.?

Atul Grover, head of advocacy for the Association of American Medical Colleges that represents teaching hospitals, said some of Medicare?s measures also make teaching hospitals look worse. ?If you?re not appropriately risk-adjusting on this, you?re already selecting a patient population that?s more likely to die,? he said. ?That?s why they come to us, because other people are reluctant to operate on those complex cases.?

Officials at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which designed many of the measures, referred questions to Medicare. Officials there were not immediately available to discuss the new measures. Dr. Patrick Romano, a professor at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine who helped the government design the measures, said the measures do take the sickness levels of patients into account, although not as thoroughly as Hospital Compare?s existing evaluations of readmissions and hospital-wide mortality rates.

Still, he said the measures were a good addition to the overall view of how well hospitals are doing. ?We?re trying to understand a large animal like an elephant or a whale,? he said. ?To do that, we take pictures from a variety of perspectives, with different cameras and different techniques.?

Hospital Compare was originally designed to be a helpful consumer tool, but to date it has not been widely used by patients choosing hospitals. Experts caution about drawing dire conclusions from the raw rates of hospitals, as some of the measures are complex and differences not statistically significant. For some of the measures, Hospital Compare categorizes most hospitals simply as ?average,? ?above? or ?below? the national norm, which experts say is a better way for consumers to know whether a hospital is an outlier.

Medicare last week announced 18 more measures it is considering for inclusion in the value-based purchasing program. Many of these measures look at how hospitals handle stroke patients and what steps they take to protect patients from blood clots. Others are intended to address two bacterial infections that can spread through hospitals: Clostridium difficile and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44909622/ns/health-health_care/

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Too Many Kids Injured in ATV Crashes, Study Finds (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Oct. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Fast speeds, lack of helmet use and multiple riders piling into the same vehicle are among the reasons why thousands of American children are injured in all-terrain vehicle (ATV) crashes annually, according to new research.

The findings were to be presented Monday at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Boston.

According to the AAP, children account for about one-third of the 130,000 to 150,000 ATV-related emergency department visits each year in the United States and one-quarter of the more than 800 ATV-related deaths.

More children are injured in ATV crashes in the United States than in bicycle accidents.

In one study, researchers reviewed University of Iowa data on 345 ATV-related injury cases and found that 80 percent of patients were male and 30 percent were 16 or younger. Fewer than 20 percent of riders wore helmets. Drivers were more likely than passengers to wear helmets and children were more likely than adults to wear helmets.

Rollovers accounted for 42 percent of injury-causing crashes, making this type of accident the most common cause of injury. Among patients older than age 15 who were tested for drugs and alcohol, 35 percent were positive for alcohol and 25 percent were positive for drugs.

Head injures were the most common cause of ATV-related deaths.

All the children treated for ATV injuries were driving adult-sized ATVs, noted lead author Dr. Charles Jennissen.

"The epidemic of ATV-related injuries can be attributed, at least in part, to the vehicles' increasing popularity," he said in an AAP news release. "In 2008, the number of ATVs in the U.S. was estimated to be 10.2 million, greater than triple the number a decade earlier. A major factor in the burgeoning sales has been the production of bigger and faster machines. Some ATV models now weigh over 800 pounds and are capable of speeds over 80 miles per hour."

In a second study, Jennissen focused on the potential impact of shortening ATV seats. The seats on the vehicles are meant for one person but are typically long enough to accommodate a passenger, particularly a child.

"We suggest that a shorter seat, starting further from the handle bar attachment is the preferred ATV seat design," Jennissen said. "This should discourage multiple passenger ATV use by reducing the space available for additional riders, and help decrease the number of ATV injuries."

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Concerned Families for ATV Safety has more about children and ATVs.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111017/hl_hsn/toomanykidsinjuredinatvcrashesstudyfinds

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French left vote to pick presidential runner (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? French left-wingers began voting on Sunday to decide who will lead their challenge to unseat President Nicolas Sarkozy in an election next year, with moderate Socialist Party veteran, Francois Hollande the favorite to win.

In a U.S.-style primary, the first of its kind in France, voters will choose between Hollande, who has never held a national government post, and Martine Aubry, one-time labor minister, architect of France's 35-hour week and daughter of the former European Commission President Jacques Delors.

Opinion polls give Hollande a lead of six percentage points over Aubry in a ballot that decides which of the two will run in a presidential contest that the Socialists have not won since Francois Mitterand was re-elected in 1988.

The polls suggest French voters are ready to put the left back in power after five years of conservative Sarkozy, who is unpopular but widely expected to seek another five-year term.

The left's runaway favorite to become president had been former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn but his IMF career and presidential hopes were halted when he was arrested in New York in May on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. The charges have since been dropped.

The ease with which Hollande and Aubry have filled his shoes suggests that many voters are simply weary of Sarkozy and his economic policies.

Voters living abroad or in some French overseas territories were first to cast their ballots and the bulk of almost 10,000 polling stations opened at 0700 GMT on mainland France. They were set to close at 1700 GMT, with preliminary results are expected a few hours later.

CONCILIATORY NOTE

Hollande and Aubry sparred in the days before the primary but Aubry seized on France's World Cup rugby semi-final win over Wales to sound a conciliatory note ahead of Sunday's vote.

"When it's time for the post-match session, everyone parties together," she told reporters. "That's how it'll be on Monday."

She dismissed polls that show Hollande scoring 53 percent of the vote to her 47 percent, preferring to highlight declarations of support from several prominent environmentalist politicians.

In a primary inspired by the momentum that carried Barack Obama to the White House, the Socialist Party has organized a two-round contest where anyone who pays a euro and declares allegiance to left-wing values can vote.

More than 2.6 million people voted in the first-round last Sunday, when anti-globalization hard-liner Arnaud Montebourg scored a surprise 17 percent.

Hollande, who promised in the ensuing days to crack down on banks and financial market excess, has consolidated his position versus Aubry by securing the support of the four contenders knocked out in round one, including Montebourg.

Hollande, seen by many as more center-left, won 39 percent of the first-round vote, versus 30 percent for Aubry, often labeled as a more old-school Socialist. The four candidates knocked out -- including Segolene Royal, Hollande's former companion and mother of his four children -- got close to 30 percent.

But both Hollande and Aubry share the main tenets of a Socialist Party manifesto that promises to scrap 50 billion euros of tax breaks that mostly went to the wealthy under Sarkozy, using half of this money to fund state jobs and promote growth, with the rest to cut the deficit.

Sarkozy, who took power in 2007 after 12 years of Jacques Chirac, has yet to declare a re-election bid.

Opinion polls show him trailing either Hollande or Aubry in the election which takes place in two rounds on April 22 and May 6, followed weeks later by a parliamentary election.

(Reporting By Brian Love; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111016/wl_nm/us_france_election

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Cindy Sheehan arrested at Calif. Wall St. protest (AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? Police in the California state capital of Sacramento say that anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was among 19 demonstrators arrested during a demonstration of anti-Wall Street sentiment.

The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/oI2tNu) reports that the 53-year-old Sheehan was booked early Sunday on suspicion of unlawful assembly and failing to follow police orders to disburse.

Police spokeswoman Laura Peck says the 18 other demonstrators were also arrested for unlawful assembly.

She says because the charge is a misdemeanor, those arrested would likely be released and ordered to appear in court within a few days.

The Bee reports police have made 58 arrests at the park across from City Hall, where protesters have been gathering since Oct. 6.

___

Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com

___

Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111016/ap_on_re_us/us_wall_street_protest_sheehan

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What's The Difference Between Collision And Comprehensive ...

Liability insurance, which covers the fee to restore damages brought on by you, is often your state?s minimum automotive insurance coverage requirement; nonetheless, if you are still making payments in your automobile, your financer could require you to purchase further automotive insurance coverage coverage till you personal the vehicle.

There are numerous different kinds of additional automotive insurance, and collision automotive insurance and complete automotive insurance coverage are most likely the preferred sorts of extra automotive insurance. But what is the difference between collision automotive insurance and complete automotive insurance coverage? Do not they both cover everything?

No. Collision automotive insurance coverage and comprehensive automotive insurance are actually fairly different.

Collision automotive insurance is automotive insurance that will cowl the price to restore damages to your automobile that result in an accident attributable to you. If repairs to your vehicle price more than the worth of your vehicle, the automotive insurance company might deem your car a complete loss, by which case you may be compensated for the present and precise money value of the vehicle.

Collision automotive insurance is normally the costliest of the extra automotive insurance options, which is comprehensible because the automotive insurance firm is paying for damages attributable to their very own coverage holder.

However, complete automotive insurance coverage is insurance that may cover the cost to repair damages to your automobile that result in an accident for which you are not at fault. These damages may be brought on by incidents involving pure disasters, theft and vandalism, hearth, and animals (consider deer running out in the highway during your innocent drive dwelling). Comprehensive automotive insurance will compensate you for the full value of your vehicle earlier than the accident.

Although many people choose to buy only legal responsibility insurance coverage because it?s normally the only insurance coverage required, think about paying additional for these further automotive insurances. You by no means know if you, or an animal, would be the one to trigger harm to your vehicle.

If you want added info with regard to compare van insurance, visit Darcy Huumnb?s web site forthwith.

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Source: http://infopadres.com/whats-the-difference-between-collision-and-comprehensive-automotive-insurance-coverage.html

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UNHCR halts some operations after Kenya kidnapping (Reuters)

NAIROBI (Reuters) ? The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said Friday it had suspended non-essential operations at Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp near the border with lawless Somalia as security forces scoured the area for two Spanish aid workers kidnapped a day earlier.

Kenyan security forces fanned out through the semi-arid border area Friday, hunting abductors believed by Kenyan police to be Somali al Shabaab insurgents. The al Qaeda-linked rebel movement has denied it was responsible for the attack.

Some aid agencies have become increasingly concerned by the worsening insecurity at the sprawling camp, where refugee numbers have swollen to more than 460,000 this year as famine and conflict drive Somalis across the border.

Nevertheless, the brazen nature of Thursday's broad daylight attack on two women working for Medecins Sans Frontieres in the heart of the camp stunned its relief workers.

"Today we have to hold everyone (at) base. We just have a thin staffing that is going down to the camps with a police patrol because some services cannot be suspended," said Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for UNHCR Kenya.

That meant there would be no registration of new arrivals, he said, but that water distribution, for example, would continue.

It was not clear when the agency's staff would be able to return to normal operations, Nyabera said. For now there were no plans for an evacuation of foreign staff, he added.

Medecins Sans Frontieres in Madrid said Blanca Thiebaut, 30, from Madrid, was one of the kidnapped Spanish women. The other woman, Montserrat Serra, 40, had been named yesterday. They both worked in logistics for the group at the camp.

"MSF has not been able to establish contact with the kidnapped workers so far. A crisis committee has been set up to manage the incident," Jose Antonio Bastos, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres in Spain told a news conference in Madrid.

"MSF always works without armed security... It's part of our policy to show people and armed groups that we have nothing to do with the conflict and we are purely a humanitarian and medical organization," Bastos said.

The African Union strongly condemned the abduction, which came some weeks after gunmen with close ties to Somali militants kidnapped two Western visitors on northern Kenya's coast in separate incidents.

Kenya's North Eastern Province police commander, Leo Nyongesa, said the hostages' whereabouts remained unknown. "We have contacted elders in Somalia to help us with the search."

The MSF workers' hijacked vehicle was found abandoned late Thursday between the Dadaab camp and the border, which lies about 100 km (60 miles) away.

The campaign group Human Rights Watch reported in 2009 that al Shabaab was recruiting fighters from inside Dadaab.

A Kenyan driver working for the international relief group Care is still missing after he was grabbed in September from the Dadaab camp.

The Geneva-based UNHCR said it has 200 staff in Dadaab. A further 100 humanitarian workers work alongside them from aid agencies including MSF.

(Additional reporting by Noor Ali in Isiolo and Catherine MacDonald in Madrid; Editing by George Obulutsa and Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111014/wl_nm/us_kenya_kidnap_unhcr

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iPhone 4S review

This isn't the iPhone 5. No matter how badly you wanted something slim, sleek and wedge-shaped, this isn't it. If you went ahead and got your hopes up ahead of Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event, hopefully you've gotten over the pangs of discontent by now, because this device pictured front and center is the iPhone 4S. It's a new spin on an old phone that will shock none, but give it half a chance, and it will still impress.

The iPhone 4S comes with a faster processor, a better camera, a smarter virtual assistant and twice the storage of its predecessor -- if you don't mind paying for it. Like the iPhone 3GS did before to the 3G, the 4S bumps the iPhone 4 down to second-class status, leaving those Apple fans who must have the best aspiring to own its decidedly familiar exterior. Apple says this is the most amazing iPhone ever. Is it? Yes, of course it is, but read on to see whether it's really worth an upgrade.

Continue reading iPhone 4S review

iPhone 4S review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/14/iphone-4s-review/

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Thai PM confident Bangkok will escape worst of floods (Reuters)

BANGKOK (Reuters) ? Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra tried to reassure residents of Bangkok on Friday that the capital should largely escape the flooding that has covered a third of the country since July and caused damage of at least $3 billion.

The north, northeast and center of Thailand have been worst hit and Bangkok -- much of it only two meters (6.5 ft) above sea level -- is threatened at the weekend as water overflows from reservoirs in the north, swelling the Chao Phraya river.

"Bangkok may face some problems in areas that are on the outer sides of the irrigation dikes but water levels will not be too high. But inner Bangkok has extremely high defences," Yingluck told reporters.

"In conclusion, Bangkok should still be considered safe," she said.

At least 289 people have been killed around the country by heavy monsoon rain, floods and mudslides since late July.

"We didn't think the flooding would be this severe," Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul told reporters.

"This time the industrial sector has also been affected and the damage is probably about 100 billion baht," he added.

Kittirat Na Ranong, deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, came up with the same provisional estimate on Thursday, equivalent to $3.2 billion and more than 1 percent of gross domestic product.

The Finance Ministry has cut its growth forecast for this year to 3.7 percent from 4.0 percent.

Run-off water from the north will arrive in the Bangkok area at the weekend at the same time as high estuary tides hamper the river's flow into the sea. This may also coincide with storms and heavy rain.

"During October 15 to 18, it may be a dangerous time because water from the north will be coming in ... But I confirm it has not reached a crisis stage as of this moment," Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra told reporters.

Chalit Damrongsak, director general of the Royal Irrigation Department, said the flows from the north into the Chao Phraya river were lower than expected.

"The water levels that are going to enter Bangkok on October 15-16 will most likely be only at 2.3-2.4 meters. Therefore, it will not surpass Bangkok's irrigation dike levels of 2.5 meters," he said. "I can confirm that Bangkok is going to be spared from the flood."

STOCKING UP

Despite such assurances, Bangkok residents have stocked up on bottled water and foodstuffs such as instant noodles.

Late on Thursday, residents in an area covering a northern Bangkok suburb received a warning to evacuate from the government's crisis control center after a sluice gate had supposedly burst, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

The central bank has advised the finance sector to take precautions and told commercial banks to make sure they have enough cash. It said 104 bank branches had closed because of flooding, mainly in the central region.

Bangkok accounts for 41 percent of the economy and contains some heavy industry, as well as extensive service, banking and tourist sectors.

In comparison, the central region, which has been badly flooded, accounts for 8 percent of GDP.

At least three big industrial estates in the central province of Ayutthaya have shut temporarily. Honda Motor Co Ltd said on Friday its plant there, accounting for 4.7 percent of its global output, would stay closed until October 21.

Thailand is a major regional hub for international car firms. They tend to be located in the east, which has been little affected by the flooding, although their operations could still suffer because car parts firms have been hit.

The Federation of Thai Industries said its forecast of 1.8 million units for 2011 vehicle production looked unreachable.

"Operators have been broadly hit one way or another. Honda, for instance, no one knows how long they will have to halt their operations and how soon those parts hit by the flood will recover and they can start production again," said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, a Federation spokesman.

"Production should still be higher than last year," he said. Last year output reached 1.65 million units.

(Additional reporting by Orathai Sriring, Pracha Hariraksapitak, Ploy Ten Kate, Prim Chuwiruch and Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111014/wl_nm/us_thailand_floods

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