Written by fatih al-farahat in


Nanolasers Grown on Silica




This is an important advance thatallows photonic methods to now be integrated directly with well knownelectronic methods on the same chip. Again we leap ahead in the march to advance Moore’s law.

It also brings us closer to apurely optical microprocessor which is surely our present goal.

With that temperature problemsare going to go away and we can imagine producing a three dimensionalarchitecture able to shed heat fast enough. Perhaps then we can have the most powerful computer packed in a gem likestone.

It really is a fantasticachievement well imagined a couple of generations ago and now even in sight.



Engineers Grow Nanolasers On Silicon, Pave Way For On-Chip Photonics

by Staff Writers

Berkeley CA(SPX) Feb 07, 2011


The unique structure of the nanopillars grown by UC Berkeleyresearchers strongly confines light in a tiny volume to enable subwavelengthnanolasers. Images on the left and top right show simulated electric fieldintensities that describe how light circulates helically inside thenanopillars. On the bottom right is an experimental camera image of laser lightfrom a single nanolaser. Credit: Connie Chang-Hasnain Group

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Engineers_Grow_Nanolasers_On_Silicon_Pave_Way_For_On_Chip_Photonics_999.html

Engineers at the University of California,Berkeley, have found a way to grow nanolasers directly onto a silicon surface,an achievement that could lead to a new class of faster, more efficient microprocessorrs,as well as to powerful biochemical sensors that use optoelectronic chips.

They describe their work in a paper to be published Feb. 6 in anadvanced online issue of the journal Nature Photonics.

"Our results impact a broad spectrum of scientific fields,including materials science, transistor technology, laser science,optoelectronics and optical physics," said the study's principalinvestigator, Connie Chang-Hasnain, UC Berkeley professor of electricalengineering and computer sciences.

The increasing performance demands of electronics have sent researchersin search of better ways to harness the inherent ability of light particles tocarry far more data than electrical signals can. Optical interconnects are seenas a solution to overcoming the communications bottleneck within and betweencomputer chips.

Because silicon, the material that forms the foundation of modernelectronics, is extremely deficient at generating light, engineers have turnedto another class of materials known as III-V (pronounced"three-five")semiconductors tocreate light-based components such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs)and lasers.

But the researchers pointed out that marrying III-V with silicon tocreate a single optoelectronic chip has been problematic. For one, the atomicstructures of the two materials are mismatched.

"Growing III-V semiconductor films on silicon is like forcing twoincongruent puzzle pieces together," said study lead author Roger Chen, aUC Berkeley graduate student in electrical engineering and computer sciences."It can be done, but the material gets damaged in the process."

Moreover, the manufacturing industry is set up for the production ofsilicon-based materials, so for practical reasons, the goal has been tointegrate the fabrication of III-V devices into the existing infrastructure, theresearchers said.

"Today's massive silicon electronics infrastructure is extremelydifficult to change for both economic and technological reasons, socompatibility with silicon fabrication is critical," said Chang-Hasnain.

"One problem is that growth of III-V semiconductors hastraditionally involved high temperatures - 700 degrees Celsius or more - thatwould destroy the electronics. Meanwhile, other integration approaches have notbeen scalable."

The UC Berkeley researchers overcame this limitation by finding a wayto grow nanopillars made of indium gallium arsenide, a III-V material, onto asilicon surface at the relatively cool temperature of 400 degrees Celsius.

"Working at nanoscale levels has enabled us to grow high qualityIII-V materials at low temperatures such that silicon electronics can retaintheir functionality," said Chen.

The researchers used metal-organic chemical vapor deposition to growthe nanopillars on the silicon. "This technique is potentially massmanufacturable, since such a system is already used commercially to make thinfilm solar cells and light emitting diodes," said Chang-Hasnain.

Once the nanopillar was made, the researchers showed that it couldgenerate near infrared laser light - a wavelength of about 950 nanometers - at roomtemperature.

The hexagonal geometry dictated by the crystal structure of thenanopillars creates a new, efficient, light-trapping optical cavity. Lightcirculates up and down the structure in a helical fashion and amplifies viathis optical feedback mechanism.

The unique approach of growing nanolasers directly onto silicon couldlead to highly efficient silicon photonics, the researchers said. They notedthat the miniscule dimensions of the nanopillars - smaller than one wavelengthon each side, in some cases - make it possible to pack them into small spaceswith the added benefit of consuming very little energy

"Ultimately, this technique may provide a powerful and new avenuefor engineering on-chip nanophotonic devices such as lasers, photodetectors, modulatorsand solar cells," said Chen.

"This is the first bottom-up integration of III-V nanolasers ontosilicon chips using a growth process compatible with the CMOS (complementarymetal oxide semiconductor) technology now used to make integrated circuits,"said Chang-Hasnain.

"This research has the potential to catalyze an optoelectronicsrevolution in computing, communications, displays and optical signalprocessing. In the future, we expect to improve the characteristics of theselasers and ultimately control them electronically for a powerful marriagebetween photonic and electronic devices."

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Circadian Cycle Universal and DNA Independent




The take home here is that aspecific class of proteins in blood maintains a twenty four hour cycle and thishas nothing to do with DNA.

In fact the old mysticism aboutour natural internal cycle been congruent with the ocean, the sun and the moonnow has a scientific basis.  We have nowdetected it and can now track it against all three factors.

We may even find out that thecycle is linked to the new moon.

We are also a reminded that a lotof the simplest things in nature do remain to be discovered.  This could have been figured out a centuryago using the same protocol.


Ancient body clock discovered that helps to keep all living things ontime

By BridgetBorgobello
13:40 February 5, 2011

http://www.gizmag.com/ancient-body-clock-discovered-that-helps-to-keep-all-living-things-on-time/17749/

A group of Cambridgescientists have successfully identified the mechanism that drives our internal24-hour clock, or circadian rhythm. It occurs not only in human cells, but hasalso been found in other life forms such as algae, and has been dated backmillions of years. Whilst the research promises a better understanding of theproblems associated with shift-work and jet-lag, this mechanism has also beenproven to be responsible for sleep patterns, seasonal shifts and even themigration of butterflies.

The study from the Instituteof Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge discovered that red bloodcells contain this 24-hour rhythm. In the past, scientists assumed this rhythmcame from DNA and gene activity but unlike most cells, red blood cells do notcontain DNA.

During this study, the Cambridgescientists incubated healthy red blood cells in the dark at body temperaturefor several days, sampling them at regular intervals. It was discovered thatthe levels of peroxiredoxins (proteins that are produced in blood), underwent a24-hour cycle. Virtually all known organisms contain peroxiredoxins.

"The implications of this for health are manifold," saidAkhilesh Reddy, lead author of the study. "We already know that disruptedclocks – for example, caused by shift-work and jet-lag – are associated withmetabolic disorders such as diabetes, mental health problems and even cancer.By furthering our knowledge of how the 24-hour clock in cells works, we hopethat the links to these disorders – and others – will be made clearer. Thiswill, in the longer term, lead to new therapies that we couldn't even havethought about a couple of years ago."

A second study by scientists working together at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and the Observatoire Oceanologique inBanyuls, France, identified a similar24-hour rhythm in marine algae. Once again, the scientists held a previousbelief that the circadian clock was driven by gene activity, but both the algaeand the red blood cells proved this theory wrong.

"This groundbreaking research shows that body clocks are ancientmechanisms that have stayed with us through a billion years of evolution,"said Andrew Millar of the Universityof Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences. "They must be far more importantand sophisticated than we previously realized. More work is needed to determinehow and why these clocks developed in people – and most likely all other livingthings on Earth – and what role they play in controlling our bodies."

The papers "Circadian Clocks in Human Red Blood Cells" and"Circadian Rhythms Persist Without Transcription in a Eukaryote" werepublished on 27th January 2011 in the journal Nature.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Libyan Noose Tightens





I am writing this Friday morning onthe Pacific Coastas we continue to get snippets of news out of Libya.  It is obvious that the rebellion is coalescingaround Libyan army units who have deserted and have joined the rebellion.  This allows a scratch defense to be thrown upanywhere an aggressive government force appears and they are beating of any assaults.

A fair bet is that we will seeeverything around Tripolisecured before a major test of the pro government military strength takesplace.  There is a lot to do and there isalso the possibility of many more defections taking place as government forcescome to believe that the situation is hopeless. Thus a simple strangulation of the city through a siege is a very goodpresent option, particularly if government forces have enough fight to repel asimple assault.

In the end, it has becomehopeless for Qaddafi unless he is able to establish a real perimeter thatallows resupply and that presently looks unlikely, or at least it is now a realfight to do so.  If the rebel military issufficient and mobile enough, then they could break into Tripoli tomorrow and bring this whole thingcrashing down.  I suspect that they arestill organizing and force concentration has not happened yet.

Communication is effectively inthe hands of the rebellion at this point and one must assume that they arestill sorting out who is in and who is out in terms of a final assault.

Once Qaddafi is able to countheads and understand that the majority of the army has deserted if that is true,then he will fold his tent and escape. Thus the real fight right now is for the hearts and minds of theofficers and rank and file.  We will knowthe tipping point when the military hunts down the mercenaries brought in byQaddafi.  All this takes some time thatis cheap to provide while building up rebel strength.

So if it does not end suddenly wewill have a delay while the army sorts itself out.  Then sooner or later it is over and can haveonly one outcome, whatever Qaddafi wants to believe.

Libyan Rebels Repel Qaddafi’s Forces Near Tripoli

By KAREEM FAHIM and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: February 24, 2011




http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/world/africa/25libya.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

BENGHAZI, Libya — Rebels seeking to overturn the 40-year rule of Col.Muammar el-Qaddafi repelleda concerted assault by his forces on Thursday on cities close to the capital,removing any doubt that Libya’s patchwork ofprotests had evolved into an increasingly well-armed revolutionary movement.

The series of determined stands by rebel forces on Thursday —especially in the strategic city of Zawiyah, near important oil resources and30 miles from the capital, Tripoli — presented the gravest threat yet to theLibyan leader. In Zawiyah, more than 100 people were killed as Colonel Qaddafi’sforces turned automatic weapons on a mosque filled with protesters, a witnesssaid. Still, residents rallied afterward.

Colonel Qaddafi’s evident frustration at the resistance in Zawiyahspilled out in a rant by telephone over the state television network chargingthat Osama bin Laden haddrugged the town’s youth into a rebellious frenzy.

“Al Qaeda is the one who hasrecruited our sons,” he said in a 30-minute tirade broadcast by the network.“It is bin Laden.”

Colonel Qaddafi said, “Those people who took your sons away from youand gave them drugs and said ‘Let them die’ are launching a campaign overcellphones against your sons, telling them not to obey their fathers andmothers.”

The violence on Thursday underscored the contrast between the characterof Libya’s revolution andthe uprising that toppled autocrats in neighboring Egyptand Tunisia.Unlike those Facebook-enabled youth rebellions,the insurrection here has been led by people who are more mature and who havebeen actively opposing the government for some time. It started with lawyers’syndicates that have campaigned peacefully for two years for a writtenconstitution and some semblance of a rule of law.

Fueled by popular anger, the help of breakaway leaders of the armedforces and some of their troops, and weapons from looted military stockpiles orsmuggled across the border, the uprising here has escalated toward moreviolence in the face of increasingly brutal government crackdowns.

At the revolt’s starting point, in the eastern city of Benghazi,Fathi Terbil, 39, the human rights lawyer whose detention first ignited theprotests, drew a map of rebel-held territory in striking distance of Tripoli. “It is only amatter of days,” he said.

A turning point in the uprising’s evolution was arguably the defectionof the interior minister, Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi, an army general who hadbeen a close ally of Colonel Qaddafi.

The break by General Abidi, who has family roots near the revolt’seastern origins, encouraged other disaffected police, military and statesecurity personnel to change sides as well. “We are hoping to use hisexperience,” said Mr. Terbil, who some called the linchpin of the revolt.
Opposition figures in rebel-held cities like Benghazihave been appearing on cable news channels promising that opponents of ColonelQaddafi are heading toward Tripolito bolster the resistance there. Their ability to carry out those assertionsremains to be seen.

In parts of the country, the revolutionaries, as they call themselves,appear to have access to potentially large stores of weapons, including smallarms and heavy artillery, automatic weapons smuggled from the Egyptian borderand rocket-propelled grenades taken from army bases, like the Kabila inBenghazi.

Tawfik al-Shohiby, one of the rebels, said that in the early days ofthe revolt one of his relatives bought $75,000 in automatic weapons from armsdealers on the Egyptian border and distributed them to citizens’ groups intowns like Bayda.

So far, at least in the east, many of the weapons appear to be held instorage to defend against a future attempt by Colonel Qaddafi’s forces toretake the territory. At a former security services building in Benghazi on Thursday, menin fatigues prepared to transport anti-aircraft and antitank weapons to whatone said was a storage depot.

Like their counterparts in Tunisiaand Egypt, the rebels in Libyahave shown tech-savvy guile in circumventing government efforts to block theircommunication. To sidestep the government’s blocking of the Internet andcurbing of cellphone access, for example, some of the more activeantigovernment protesters distribute flash drives and CDs with videos of thefighting to friends in other towns and to journalists.

Mr. Shohiby began helping lead an effort this week to shuttle foreignjournalists from the Egyptian border to towns across eastern Libya.

His network of contacts was built on the Internet: not on Facebook, buton a popular soccer Web site. “I have friends from east to west, north tosouth,” he said. “There are two guys in Sabha, one in Zawiyah, three friends inMisurata, for example,” he said, speaking of towns that were the scenes of someof the clashes on Thursday.

Still, Mohammed Ali Abdallah, deputy secretary general of an oppositiongroup in exile, The National Front for the Salvation of Libya, said the government’sfierce crackdown made organizing the spontaneous uprising a continuingchallenge, especially in heavily guarded Tripoli.

“It is almost like hit and runs,” he said. “There are almost no waysthat those young guys can organize themselves. You can’t talk on a mobilephone, and if five people get together in the street they get shot.”

Nonetheless, protesters in Tripoliwere calling for a massive demonstration on Friday after noon prayers,residents of the city and those fleeing the country said. In recent days,witnesses said, Colonel Qaddafi appears to have pulled many of his militiamenand mercenaries back toward the capital to prepare for its defense.

But despite the encroaching insurrection, Colonel Qaddafi appeareddetermined on Thursday to put on a show of strength and national unity, a starkturnabout from his approach so far.

Since the start of the uprising, his government had shut out allforeign journalists, cut off communications and even confiscated mobile phonechips, and other devices that might contain pictures, at the border from peoplefleeing the country. Libyahad warned that reporters who entered the country illegally risked arrest andcould be deemed collaborators of Al Qaeda.

But on Thursday, Colonel Qaddafi’s son and heir apparent Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi announcedon television that the government would allow teams of journalists to visit Tripoli. Witnesses saidpreparations for the visit were already under way.

The soldiers and mercenaries who had previously roamed the streets hadlargely disappeared by the late afternoon, leaving only traffic police officers,and the capital’s central Green Square — the scene of violent clashes earlier thisweek — had been cleaned up. Two banners, in English, now adorned the square. “Al Jazeera,BBC, don’t spread lies that reflectother’s wishful thinking,” one read. The other: “Family members talk but neverfight between each other.”

But the rebels’ unexpected strength was undeniable on Thursday as theyappeared to hold or contest several towns close to Colonel Qaddafi’s strongholdin Tripoli inthe face of a coordinated push by his mercenaries and security forces.

In Misurata, 130 miles the east of the capital, Colonel Qaddafi’sforces struck at rebels guarding the airport with rocket-propelled grenades andmortar shells, The Associated Press reported. But the rebels seized ananti-aircraft gun used by the militias and turned it against them.

In Zuwarah, 75 miles west of the capital, the police and securityforces had pulled out and a “people’s committee” was controlling the city,several people who had fled across the border reported. “The people are takingcare of their own business,” said Basem Shams, 26, a fisherman.

In Sabratha, 50 miles west of the capital, witnesses reported that thepolice headquarters and offices of Colonel Qaddafi’s revolutionary committeeswere all in smoldering ruins. “We are not afraid; we are watching,” said adoctor by telephone from Sabratha. “What I am sure about, is that change iscoming.”

In Zawiyah, an envoy from Colonel Qaddafi had reportedly arrived towarn rebels on Wednesday: “Either leave or you will see a massacre,” oneresident told The A.P.

About 5 a.m. Thursday, Colonel Qaddafi’s forces fulfilled their threat.Witnesses said a force that included about 60 foreign mercenaries assaulted acentral mosque where some of the roughly 2,000 protesters had sought refuge.One witness said the protesters were armed mainly with rifles, sticks andknives, but after four hours of fighting they managed to hold the square.

About 100 people were killed and 200 were wounded, this witness said.During a telephone interview with him, a voice could be heard over aloudspeaker in the background telling the crowd, in an area known as Martyrs Square, notto be afraid.

“People came to send a clear message: We are not afraid of death oryour bullets,” one resident told The A.P. “This regime will regret it. Historywill not forgive them.”

Meanwhile, the violence sowed concern across the region and beyond. President Obama spokeThursday, in separate calls, with President Nicolas Sarkozy of Franceand the prime ministers of Britain and Italy, David Cameron and Silvio Berlusconi.

The White House said the leaders expressed “deep concern” over theLibyan government’s use of force and discussed possible responses, withoutspecifying what steps they were prepared to take.

Kareem Fahim reported from Benghazi, and David D. Kirkpatrick from theTunisian border with Libya.Reporting was contributed by Sharon Otterman,Mona El-Naggar and Neil MacFarquhar from Cairo,and Robert F. Worth from Tunis.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


US Intervention?





This is a call for the US to dosomething.  At present, the US is standingpassive and looking confused.  In time itwill need to act in support of a new regime. For the present been passive may just be the best answer.  The Libyan people seem to be able to get thejob done and they need the esteem builder. The Arab peoples elsewhere also need to see it unfold that way.

Also we really do not want torush in every time someone hits the bricks

Most everyone knows where thepresidential palaces are and need no help to place pressure on the regime.  The best an outsider can do is to assist inthe escape.  Actual intervention means thatyou end up owning the problem as was done in Iraq.

Yes, we need to come out in favorof the people’s revolution now.  This isthe only president in the past forty years who seems to have to think about itat all in this particular case.  Thishomicidal maniac ordered the Lockerbie atrocity and many others because hecould.  He only had second thoughts afterReagan reached out and touched him with an air strike.  He only listened to wiser heads when his ownsons grew up and finally convinced him of the stupidity of his ways.

Land relief and aid support inthe east and do not worry about arms. They are moving freely enough right now.

The Case for U.S.Action in Libya


Posted by Ryan Mauro on Feb 24th, 2011 and filedunder Daily Mailer, FrontPage. You can follow any responsesto this entry through the RSS2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently notallowed.

Ryan Mauro is the founder of WorldThreats.com, the National Security Adviserfor the Christian Action Network and an analyst with Wikistrat. He can becontacted at TDCAnalyst@aol.com.


http://frontpagemag.com/2011/02/24/the-case-for-u-s-action-on-libya/

Muammar Qaddafi’s goal is obvious: If he goes down, he wants to bring Libya with him.He wants the day he falls to be remembered as a day of bloodshed, not of joy.His fighter jets are firing on protesters and a new report says hehas ordered the destruction of his country’s oil facilities, which wouldeliminate 75 to 90 percent of the next government’s revenue andmake the world feel his pain as oil prices skyrocket. It is timefor the U.S.to step in.

President Obama finally made a statement yesterday about the uprisingin Libya,saying the violence is “outrageous and unacceptable” and that thegovernment had a “strong responsibility to refrain from violence.” As fora response, no specifics were offered beyond: “We are reviewing a variety ofoptions with our international partners…”

President Obama should have called for Qaddafi’s resignation days ago.If Hosni Mubarak qualified as a leader unworthy of office, then Qaddafi surelydoes as well. Yet, in the speech, Qaddafi’s name was noteven mentioned. The Obama administration has made improving the image ofthe U.S.a top objective of its foreign policy but its failure to decisively side withthe people dying for the rights we cherish is tarnishing it. It is time tounequivocally stand in favor of the Libyan revolution.

As Paul Wolfowitz pointsout, the Arab world is seeing a connection between the unengagedattitude of the U.S.and Secretary of State Clinton’s 2009 meeting with one of Qaddafi’s sons. TheLibyan ambassador to the U.S.has turned on Qaddafi and is cautioning theU.S.that its current posture gives the appearance to the Arab world that the West“has only a materialist mind—they don’t care about human rights…except when itcomes to their own interest.” The Arab and Muslim world, he said, “[won’t] trust Americaor the West if they behave that way.”

The U.S. and itsallies should immediately reach out to any non-Islamist party or oppositionleader in Libya,including the tribal chiefs, to begin forming a transitional government. Thisexpression of confidence that Qaddafi will not last will do much to motivate theLibyan people. This transitional government, if put together before thedictator falls, should be given authority over liberated territory like Benghazi.
 The military andpolice who have defected can become part of the new security forcesthat can prevent anarchy, and elements of the regime that have embraced therevolution should be welcomed. Through this government, the West can deliverhumanitarian supplies to bring relief to the conflicted areas. The creation ofthis body would help non-Islamist forces organize for the day when electionsare held and would make for as smooth of a transition as possible.

The U.S.must take the lead in the international community in warning that the names ofanyone carrying out violence against the protesters are being collected andthey will be prosecuted. The assets of any official who has not turned againstQaddafi should be frozen. Fighter jets being used to fire upon the Libyanpeople can be shot out of the sky, especially if Libyan airspace must beentered to evacuate staff and citizens. The mere threat of this would causemost, if not all, of the fighter pilots to go AWOL. The alternative is to watchLibyan protesters get massacred while they ask why the U.S. doesnothing and time is given to Qaddafi to destroy his oil infrastructure.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Nanolasers Grown on Silica




This is an important advance thatallows photonic methods to now be integrated directly with well knownelectronic methods on the same chip. Again we leap ahead in the march to advance Moore’s law.

It also brings us closer to apurely optical microprocessor which is surely our present goal.

With that temperature problemsare going to go away and we can imagine producing a three dimensionalarchitecture able to shed heat fast enough. Perhaps then we can have the most powerful computer packed in a gem likestone.

It really is a fantasticachievement well imagined a couple of generations ago and now even in sight.



Engineers Grow Nanolasers On Silicon, Pave Way For On-Chip Photonics

by Staff Writers

Berkeley CA(SPX) Feb 07, 2011


The unique structure of the nanopillars grown by UC Berkeleyresearchers strongly confines light in a tiny volume to enable subwavelengthnanolasers. Images on the left and top right show simulated electric fieldintensities that describe how light circulates helically inside thenanopillars. On the bottom right is an experimental camera image of laser lightfrom a single nanolaser. Credit: Connie Chang-Hasnain Group

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Engineers_Grow_Nanolasers_On_Silicon_Pave_Way_For_On_Chip_Photonics_999.html

Engineers at the University of California,Berkeley, have found a way to grow nanolasers directly onto a silicon surface,an achievement that could lead to a new class of faster, more efficient microprocessorrs,as well as to powerful biochemical sensors that use optoelectronic chips.

They describe their work in a paper to be published Feb. 6 in anadvanced online issue of the journal Nature Photonics.

"Our results impact a broad spectrum of scientific fields,including materials science, transistor technology, laser science,optoelectronics and optical physics," said the study's principalinvestigator, Connie Chang-Hasnain, UC Berkeley professor of electricalengineering and computer sciences.

The increasing performance demands of electronics have sent researchersin search of better ways to harness the inherent ability of light particles tocarry far more data than electrical signals can. Optical interconnects are seenas a solution to overcoming the communications bottleneck within and betweencomputer chips.

Because silicon, the material that forms the foundation of modernelectronics, is extremely deficient at generating light, engineers have turnedto another class of materials known as III-V (pronounced"three-five")semiconductors tocreate light-based components such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs)and lasers.

But the researchers pointed out that marrying III-V with silicon tocreate a single optoelectronic chip has been problematic. For one, the atomicstructures of the two materials are mismatched.

"Growing III-V semiconductor films on silicon is like forcing twoincongruent puzzle pieces together," said study lead author Roger Chen, aUC Berkeley graduate student in electrical engineering and computer sciences."It can be done, but the material gets damaged in the process."

Moreover, the manufacturing industry is set up for the production ofsilicon-based materials, so for practical reasons, the goal has been tointegrate the fabrication of III-V devices into the existing infrastructure, theresearchers said.

"Today's massive silicon electronics infrastructure is extremelydifficult to change for both economic and technological reasons, socompatibility with silicon fabrication is critical," said Chang-Hasnain.

"One problem is that growth of III-V semiconductors hastraditionally involved high temperatures - 700 degrees Celsius or more - thatwould destroy the electronics. Meanwhile, other integration approaches have notbeen scalable."

The UC Berkeley researchers overcame this limitation by finding a wayto grow nanopillars made of indium gallium arsenide, a III-V material, onto asilicon surface at the relatively cool temperature of 400 degrees Celsius.

"Working at nanoscale levels has enabled us to grow high qualityIII-V materials at low temperatures such that silicon electronics can retaintheir functionality," said Chen.

The researchers used metal-organic chemical vapor deposition to growthe nanopillars on the silicon. "This technique is potentially massmanufacturable, since such a system is already used commercially to make thinfilm solar cells and light emitting diodes," said Chang-Hasnain.

Once the nanopillar was made, the researchers showed that it couldgenerate near infrared laser light - a wavelength of about 950 nanometers - at roomtemperature.

The hexagonal geometry dictated by the crystal structure of thenanopillars creates a new, efficient, light-trapping optical cavity. Lightcirculates up and down the structure in a helical fashion and amplifies viathis optical feedback mechanism.

The unique approach of growing nanolasers directly onto silicon couldlead to highly efficient silicon photonics, the researchers said. They notedthat the miniscule dimensions of the nanopillars - smaller than one wavelengthon each side, in some cases - make it possible to pack them into small spaceswith the added benefit of consuming very little energy

"Ultimately, this technique may provide a powerful and new avenuefor engineering on-chip nanophotonic devices such as lasers, photodetectors, modulatorsand solar cells," said Chen.

"This is the first bottom-up integration of III-V nanolasers ontosilicon chips using a growth process compatible with the CMOS (complementarymetal oxide semiconductor) technology now used to make integrated circuits,"said Chang-Hasnain.

"This research has the potential to catalyze an optoelectronicsrevolution in computing, communications, displays and optical signalprocessing. In the future, we expect to improve the characteristics of theselasers and ultimately control them electronically for a powerful marriagebetween photonic and electronic devices."

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Circadian Cycle Universal and DNA Independent




The take home here is that aspecific class of proteins in blood maintains a twenty four hour cycle and thishas nothing to do with DNA.

In fact the old mysticism aboutour natural internal cycle been congruent with the ocean, the sun and the moonnow has a scientific basis.  We have nowdetected it and can now track it against all three factors.

We may even find out that thecycle is linked to the new moon.

We are also a reminded that a lotof the simplest things in nature do remain to be discovered.  This could have been figured out a centuryago using the same protocol.


Ancient body clock discovered that helps to keep all living things ontime

By BridgetBorgobello
13:40 February 5, 2011

http://www.gizmag.com/ancient-body-clock-discovered-that-helps-to-keep-all-living-things-on-time/17749/

A group of Cambridgescientists have successfully identified the mechanism that drives our internal24-hour clock, or circadian rhythm. It occurs not only in human cells, but hasalso been found in other life forms such as algae, and has been dated backmillions of years. Whilst the research promises a better understanding of theproblems associated with shift-work and jet-lag, this mechanism has also beenproven to be responsible for sleep patterns, seasonal shifts and even themigration of butterflies.

The study from the Instituteof Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge discovered that red bloodcells contain this 24-hour rhythm. In the past, scientists assumed this rhythmcame from DNA and gene activity but unlike most cells, red blood cells do notcontain DNA.

During this study, the Cambridgescientists incubated healthy red blood cells in the dark at body temperaturefor several days, sampling them at regular intervals. It was discovered thatthe levels of peroxiredoxins (proteins that are produced in blood), underwent a24-hour cycle. Virtually all known organisms contain peroxiredoxins.

"The implications of this for health are manifold," saidAkhilesh Reddy, lead author of the study. "We already know that disruptedclocks – for example, caused by shift-work and jet-lag – are associated withmetabolic disorders such as diabetes, mental health problems and even cancer.By furthering our knowledge of how the 24-hour clock in cells works, we hopethat the links to these disorders – and others – will be made clearer. Thiswill, in the longer term, lead to new therapies that we couldn't even havethought about a couple of years ago."

A second study by scientists working together at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and the Observatoire Oceanologique inBanyuls, France, identified a similar24-hour rhythm in marine algae. Once again, the scientists held a previousbelief that the circadian clock was driven by gene activity, but both the algaeand the red blood cells proved this theory wrong.

"This groundbreaking research shows that body clocks are ancientmechanisms that have stayed with us through a billion years of evolution,"said Andrew Millar of the Universityof Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences. "They must be far more importantand sophisticated than we previously realized. More work is needed to determinehow and why these clocks developed in people – and most likely all other livingthings on Earth – and what role they play in controlling our bodies."

The papers "Circadian Clocks in Human Red Blood Cells" and"Circadian Rhythms Persist Without Transcription in a Eukaryote" werepublished on 27th January 2011 in the journal Nature.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Libyan Noose Tightens





I am writing this Friday morning onthe Pacific Coastas we continue to get snippets of news out of Libya.  It is obvious that the rebellion is coalescingaround Libyan army units who have deserted and have joined the rebellion.  This allows a scratch defense to be thrown upanywhere an aggressive government force appears and they are beating of any assaults.

A fair bet is that we will seeeverything around Tripolisecured before a major test of the pro government military strength takesplace.  There is a lot to do and there isalso the possibility of many more defections taking place as government forcescome to believe that the situation is hopeless. Thus a simple strangulation of the city through a siege is a very goodpresent option, particularly if government forces have enough fight to repel asimple assault.

In the end, it has becomehopeless for Qaddafi unless he is able to establish a real perimeter thatallows resupply and that presently looks unlikely, or at least it is now a realfight to do so.  If the rebel military issufficient and mobile enough, then they could break into Tripoli tomorrow and bring this whole thingcrashing down.  I suspect that they arestill organizing and force concentration has not happened yet.

Communication is effectively inthe hands of the rebellion at this point and one must assume that they arestill sorting out who is in and who is out in terms of a final assault.

Once Qaddafi is able to countheads and understand that the majority of the army has deserted if that is true,then he will fold his tent and escape. Thus the real fight right now is for the hearts and minds of theofficers and rank and file.  We will knowthe tipping point when the military hunts down the mercenaries brought in byQaddafi.  All this takes some time thatis cheap to provide while building up rebel strength.

So if it does not end suddenly wewill have a delay while the army sorts itself out.  Then sooner or later it is over and can haveonly one outcome, whatever Qaddafi wants to believe.

Libyan Rebels Repel Qaddafi’s Forces Near Tripoli

By KAREEM FAHIM and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: February 24, 2011




http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/world/africa/25libya.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

BENGHAZI, Libya — Rebels seeking to overturn the 40-year rule of Col.Muammar el-Qaddafi repelleda concerted assault by his forces on Thursday on cities close to the capital,removing any doubt that Libya’s patchwork ofprotests had evolved into an increasingly well-armed revolutionary movement.

The series of determined stands by rebel forces on Thursday —especially in the strategic city of Zawiyah, near important oil resources and30 miles from the capital, Tripoli — presented the gravest threat yet to theLibyan leader. In Zawiyah, more than 100 people were killed as Colonel Qaddafi’sforces turned automatic weapons on a mosque filled with protesters, a witnesssaid. Still, residents rallied afterward.

Colonel Qaddafi’s evident frustration at the resistance in Zawiyahspilled out in a rant by telephone over the state television network chargingthat Osama bin Laden haddrugged the town’s youth into a rebellious frenzy.

“Al Qaeda is the one who hasrecruited our sons,” he said in a 30-minute tirade broadcast by the network.“It is bin Laden.”

Colonel Qaddafi said, “Those people who took your sons away from youand gave them drugs and said ‘Let them die’ are launching a campaign overcellphones against your sons, telling them not to obey their fathers andmothers.”

The violence on Thursday underscored the contrast between the characterof Libya’s revolution andthe uprising that toppled autocrats in neighboring Egyptand Tunisia.Unlike those Facebook-enabled youth rebellions,the insurrection here has been led by people who are more mature and who havebeen actively opposing the government for some time. It started with lawyers’syndicates that have campaigned peacefully for two years for a writtenconstitution and some semblance of a rule of law.

Fueled by popular anger, the help of breakaway leaders of the armedforces and some of their troops, and weapons from looted military stockpiles orsmuggled across the border, the uprising here has escalated toward moreviolence in the face of increasingly brutal government crackdowns.

At the revolt’s starting point, in the eastern city of Benghazi,Fathi Terbil, 39, the human rights lawyer whose detention first ignited theprotests, drew a map of rebel-held territory in striking distance of Tripoli. “It is only amatter of days,” he said.

A turning point in the uprising’s evolution was arguably the defectionof the interior minister, Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi, an army general who hadbeen a close ally of Colonel Qaddafi.

The break by General Abidi, who has family roots near the revolt’seastern origins, encouraged other disaffected police, military and statesecurity personnel to change sides as well. “We are hoping to use hisexperience,” said Mr. Terbil, who some called the linchpin of the revolt.
Opposition figures in rebel-held cities like Benghazihave been appearing on cable news channels promising that opponents of ColonelQaddafi are heading toward Tripolito bolster the resistance there. Their ability to carry out those assertionsremains to be seen.

In parts of the country, the revolutionaries, as they call themselves,appear to have access to potentially large stores of weapons, including smallarms and heavy artillery, automatic weapons smuggled from the Egyptian borderand rocket-propelled grenades taken from army bases, like the Kabila inBenghazi.

Tawfik al-Shohiby, one of the rebels, said that in the early days ofthe revolt one of his relatives bought $75,000 in automatic weapons from armsdealers on the Egyptian border and distributed them to citizens’ groups intowns like Bayda.

So far, at least in the east, many of the weapons appear to be held instorage to defend against a future attempt by Colonel Qaddafi’s forces toretake the territory. At a former security services building in Benghazi on Thursday, menin fatigues prepared to transport anti-aircraft and antitank weapons to whatone said was a storage depot.

Like their counterparts in Tunisiaand Egypt, the rebels in Libyahave shown tech-savvy guile in circumventing government efforts to block theircommunication. To sidestep the government’s blocking of the Internet andcurbing of cellphone access, for example, some of the more activeantigovernment protesters distribute flash drives and CDs with videos of thefighting to friends in other towns and to journalists.

Mr. Shohiby began helping lead an effort this week to shuttle foreignjournalists from the Egyptian border to towns across eastern Libya.

His network of contacts was built on the Internet: not on Facebook, buton a popular soccer Web site. “I have friends from east to west, north tosouth,” he said. “There are two guys in Sabha, one in Zawiyah, three friends inMisurata, for example,” he said, speaking of towns that were the scenes of someof the clashes on Thursday.

Still, Mohammed Ali Abdallah, deputy secretary general of an oppositiongroup in exile, The National Front for the Salvation of Libya, said the government’sfierce crackdown made organizing the spontaneous uprising a continuingchallenge, especially in heavily guarded Tripoli.

“It is almost like hit and runs,” he said. “There are almost no waysthat those young guys can organize themselves. You can’t talk on a mobilephone, and if five people get together in the street they get shot.”

Nonetheless, protesters in Tripoliwere calling for a massive demonstration on Friday after noon prayers,residents of the city and those fleeing the country said. In recent days,witnesses said, Colonel Qaddafi appears to have pulled many of his militiamenand mercenaries back toward the capital to prepare for its defense.

But despite the encroaching insurrection, Colonel Qaddafi appeareddetermined on Thursday to put on a show of strength and national unity, a starkturnabout from his approach so far.

Since the start of the uprising, his government had shut out allforeign journalists, cut off communications and even confiscated mobile phonechips, and other devices that might contain pictures, at the border from peoplefleeing the country. Libyahad warned that reporters who entered the country illegally risked arrest andcould be deemed collaborators of Al Qaeda.

But on Thursday, Colonel Qaddafi’s son and heir apparent Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi announcedon television that the government would allow teams of journalists to visit Tripoli. Witnesses saidpreparations for the visit were already under way.

The soldiers and mercenaries who had previously roamed the streets hadlargely disappeared by the late afternoon, leaving only traffic police officers,and the capital’s central Green Square — the scene of violent clashes earlier thisweek — had been cleaned up. Two banners, in English, now adorned the square. “Al Jazeera,BBC, don’t spread lies that reflectother’s wishful thinking,” one read. The other: “Family members talk but neverfight between each other.”

But the rebels’ unexpected strength was undeniable on Thursday as theyappeared to hold or contest several towns close to Colonel Qaddafi’s strongholdin Tripoli inthe face of a coordinated push by his mercenaries and security forces.

In Misurata, 130 miles the east of the capital, Colonel Qaddafi’sforces struck at rebels guarding the airport with rocket-propelled grenades andmortar shells, The Associated Press reported. But the rebels seized ananti-aircraft gun used by the militias and turned it against them.

In Zuwarah, 75 miles west of the capital, the police and securityforces had pulled out and a “people’s committee” was controlling the city,several people who had fled across the border reported. “The people are takingcare of their own business,” said Basem Shams, 26, a fisherman.

In Sabratha, 50 miles west of the capital, witnesses reported that thepolice headquarters and offices of Colonel Qaddafi’s revolutionary committeeswere all in smoldering ruins. “We are not afraid; we are watching,” said adoctor by telephone from Sabratha. “What I am sure about, is that change iscoming.”

In Zawiyah, an envoy from Colonel Qaddafi had reportedly arrived towarn rebels on Wednesday: “Either leave or you will see a massacre,” oneresident told The A.P.

About 5 a.m. Thursday, Colonel Qaddafi’s forces fulfilled their threat.Witnesses said a force that included about 60 foreign mercenaries assaulted acentral mosque where some of the roughly 2,000 protesters had sought refuge.One witness said the protesters were armed mainly with rifles, sticks andknives, but after four hours of fighting they managed to hold the square.

About 100 people were killed and 200 were wounded, this witness said.During a telephone interview with him, a voice could be heard over aloudspeaker in the background telling the crowd, in an area known as Martyrs Square, notto be afraid.

“People came to send a clear message: We are not afraid of death oryour bullets,” one resident told The A.P. “This regime will regret it. Historywill not forgive them.”

Meanwhile, the violence sowed concern across the region and beyond. President Obama spokeThursday, in separate calls, with President Nicolas Sarkozy of Franceand the prime ministers of Britain and Italy, David Cameron and Silvio Berlusconi.

The White House said the leaders expressed “deep concern” over theLibyan government’s use of force and discussed possible responses, withoutspecifying what steps they were prepared to take.

Kareem Fahim reported from Benghazi, and David D. Kirkpatrick from theTunisian border with Libya.Reporting was contributed by Sharon Otterman,Mona El-Naggar and Neil MacFarquhar from Cairo,and Robert F. Worth from Tunis.