Data storage of tomorrow: Ferroelectricity on the nanoscale

ScienceDaily (July 10, 2012) ? Promising news for those who relish the prospects of a one-inch chip storing multiple terabytes of data, some clarity has been brought to the here-to-fore confusing physics of ferroelectric nanomaterials. A multi-institutional team of researchers, led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has provided the first atomic-scale insights into the ferroelectric properties of nanocrystals. This information will be critical for development of the next generation of nonvolatile data storage devices.

Working with the world's most powerful transmission electron microscope, the researchers mapped the ferroelectric structural distortions in nanocrystals of germanium telluride, a semiconductor, and barium titanate, an insulator. This data was then combined with data from electron holographic polarization imaging to yield detailed information on the polarization structures and scaling limits of ferroelectric order on the nanoscale.

"As we scale down our device technology from the microscale to the nanoscale, we need a better understanding of how critical material properties, such as ferroelectric behavior, are impacted," says Paul Alivisatos, director of Berkeley Lab and one of the principal investigators in this research. "Our results provide a pathway to unraveling the fundamental physics of nanoscale ferroelectricity at the smallest possible size scales."

Alivisatos, who is also the Larry and Diane Bock Professor of Nanotechnology at the University of California (UC) Berkeley, is a corresponding author of a paper describing this work in the journal Nature Materials titled "Ferroelectric order in individual nanometrescale Crystals." The other corresponding author is Ramamoorthy Ramesh, a senior scientist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division and the Plato Malozemoff Professor of Materials Science and Physics for UC Berkeley.

Ferroelectricity is the property by which materials can be electrically polarized, meaning they will be oriented in favor of either a positive or negative electrical charge. This polarization can be flipped with the application of an external electrical field, a property that could be exploited for nonvolatile data storage, similar to the use of ferromagnetic materials today but using much smaller, far more densely packed devices.

"Although much progress has been made towards understanding nanoscale photophysical magnetic and other functional properties, understanding the basic physics of ferroelectric nanomaterials remains far less advanced," says co-principal investigator Ramesh, who attributes contradicting reports on nanoscale ferroelectricity in part to the lack of high-quality, nanocrystals of ferroelectric materials that feature well-defined sizes, shapes and surfaces.

"Another problem has been the reliance on ensemble measurements rather than single particle techniques," he says. "Statistical-average measurement techniques tend to obscure the physical mechanisms responsible for profound changes in ferroelectric behavior within individual nanocrystals."

The Berkeley Lab-led research team was able to map ferroelectric structural distortions within individual nanocrystals thanks to the unprecedented capabilities of TEAM I, which is housed at Berkeley Lab's National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM). TEAM stands for "Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected Microscope." TEAM I can resolve images of structures with dimensions as small as one half?angstrom -- less than the diameter of a single hydrogen atom.

The maps produced at TEAM I of ferroelectric distortion patterns within the highly conducting germanium telluride nanocrystals were then compared with electron holography studies of insulating nanocubes of barium titanate, which were carried out by collaborators at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).

"Electron holography is an interferometry technique using coherent electron waves," said BNL physicist and co-author of the Nature Materials paper Myung-Geun Han. "Firing focused electron waves through the ferroelectric sample creates what's called a phase-shift, or an interference pattern that reveals details of the targeted structure. This produces an electron hologram, which we can use to directly see local electric fields of individual ferroelectric nanoparticles."

These combined studies enabled the independent examination of depolarizing field and surface structure influences and thereby enabled the research team to identify the fundamental factors governing the nature of the ferroelectric polarized state at finite dimensions. The results indicate that a monodomain ferroelectric state with linearly ordered polarization remains stable in these nanocrystals down to dimensions of less than 10 nanometers. Also, room-temperature polarization flipping was demonstrated down to dimensions of about five nanometers. Below this threshold, ferroelectric behavior disappeared. This indicates that five nanometers is likely a size limit for data storage applications, the authors state.

"We also showed that ferroelectric coherence is facilitated in part by control of particle morphology, which along with electrostatic boundary conditions is found to determine the spatial extent of cooperative ferroelectric distortions," Ramesh says. "Taken together, our results provide a glimpse of the structural and electrical manifestations of ferroelectricity down to its ultimate limits."

Also co-authoring the Nature Materials paper in addition to Alivisatos, Ramesh and Han were Mark Polking, Amin Yourdkhani, Valeri Petkov, Christian Kisielowski, Vyacheslav Volkov, Yimei Zhu and Gabriel Caruntu.

This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Mark J. Polking, Myung-Geun Han, Amin Yourdkhani, Valeri Petkov, Christian F. Kisielowski, Vyacheslav V. Volkov, Yimei Zhu, Gabriel Caruntu, A. Paul Alivisatos, Ramamoorthy Ramesh. Ferroelectric order in individual nanometre-scale crystals. Nature Materials, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3371

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Az4p914lO8U/120710172154.htm

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Nutrient Drink Might Boost Memory in Early Alzheimer's: Study

MONDAY, July 9 (HealthDay News) -- A daily drink combining several nutrients appears to help people with early Alzheimer's disease improve their memory, a new study suggests.

As Alzheimer's progresses, patients lose their memory as synapses (connections between brain cells) deteriorate, according to background information included in the study. The new drink, called Souvenaid, may actually stimulate the growth of new synapses, said the drink's inventor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Dr. Richard Wurtman.

But more research is needed before the drink could be made available to the public. And, even then, consumers should exercise caution, said William Thies, vice president for medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's Association.

Nutricia, a division of Dannon, sponsored the study. MIT has a patent on Souvenaid, and Nutricia has the exclusive license on the patent.

"Existing data now suggests that it may be possible to receive something that will sustain cognition in people with Alzheimer's disease with a limited concern about side effects," Wurtman said.

Previous experiments in animals showed that giving them the three compounds included in the drink increased the production of synapses improving brain function, he said.

For the new study, nearly 260 early Alzheimer's patients in Europe drank either Souvenaid or a placebo for six months.

During the first three months of the study, patients in both groups showed improved memory. After that, however, patients taking the placebo had a decline in memory. In contrast, patients taking Souvenaid continued to show improved memory on tests used to assess Alzheimer's patients.

Whether Souvenaid will slow the progression of Alzheimer's isn't known. There is, however, a longer trial going on that might answer that question, Wurtman said. "I don't think it has any effect on the fundamental diseases process, but we'll see," he said.

The report was published in the July 10 online edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

The drink combines three ingredients: choline, uridine and omega-3 fatty acids.

Choline is a B vitamin found in meats, nuts and eggs, and omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish, eggs, flaxseed and meat from grass-fed animals. Uridine, which is produced by the liver and kidneys, is also found in some foods as a part of RNA, which helps make protein in the body.

These nutrients, along with other proteins, are essential for making brain-cell membranes that form synapses. To be effective, all three compounds must be given together, the researchers said.

Nearly all patients drank the nutrient cocktail consistently throughout the study, and there were no serious side effects, the researchers reported.

To show the drink's effect on the brain, patients underwent electroencephalography (EEG) throughout the trial. During the study, the brains of those taking the drink shifted from patterns of dementia to more normal ones, the researchers found.

Since EEG patterns reflect the activity of synapses, this result suggests that synaptic function increased with treatment, the researchers said.

An earlier study found that patients with more advanced Alzheimer's did not benefit from Souvenaid, most likely because brains cells had already been lost so new synapses couldn't develop, Wurtman said.

There are as yet no plans to market Souvenaid, so the cost hasn't been established, company spokesman William Green said.

"Souvenaid is a test product in development, which is still undergoing clinical trials," Green said. "No plans for the introduction of Souvenaid to the market -- either in Europe or the U.S. -- have been confirmed. It is probable that any introduction would take place first in Europe."

An ongoing study will evaluate the product over two years. If it appears to have a positive effect, then it may be something that could benefit patients even before definitive symptoms of Alzheimer's appear, Wurtman said.

Thies, of the Alzheimer's Association, is very cautious about the benefits of Souvenaid.

"Medical foods do not have a requirement for FDA premarket approval, but they do have a requirement for having a scientific foundation and some evidence of efficacy," he said. "But they don't have the kind of data we would find for a medication."

That makes it difficult to make a clear-cut statement about the value of the product, he said.

"There isn't a clear diet that prevents you from getting Alzheimer's disease or improves your memory," Thies said.

In addition, medical foods for Alzheimer's most likely won't be covered by insurance, he said.

"You are making a judgment without the protections you have when dealing with a medication," Thies said. "You're going to be making a decision using your own funds and we would advise anybody to make sure they understand what the product offers and make sure they understand what it's going to cost."

More information

For more about Alzheimer's disease, visit the Alzheimer's Association.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nutrient-drink-might-boost-memory-early-alzheimers-study-231017483.html

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Wallace's pal Gromit was once a cat, creator says

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58 killed in central Nigeria raids and reprisals

JOS, Nigeria (AP) ? Raids and reprisal attacks have left 58 people dead in Christian villages near a Nigerian city where authorities have struggled to contain religious violence, officials said Sunday.

Assailants launched "sophisticated attacks" on several villages near Jos early Saturday, said Mustapha Salisu, spokesman for a special taskforce made up of policemen and soldiers deployed in the area to curb years of violence.

"They came in hundreds," Salisu said. "Some had (police) uniforms and some even had bulletproof vests."

He said the special taskforce fought back for hours and lost two policemen in the battle. Salisu initially said that 37 people were killed including 14 civilians and 21 assailants.

However, late Sunday, Nigerian Red Cross official Andronicus Adeyemo said aid workers had counted 56 dead and more than 300 displaced people from the attacks. He did not give a breakdown.

He said the killing of a federal lawmaker and a state lawmaker brought the deaths to 58 after the two officials were ambushed Sunday afternoon on their way to a mass burial for the victims.

The state government's press officer, James Mannock, said they were Senator Gyang Dantong and majority leader of the Plateau State House of Assembly Gyang Fulani.

A third lawmaker hurt in the ambush was one of seven people injured, Adeyemo said.

"As a nation, we must rise against those who are determined to return us to a state of nature where life has little or no value," Nigerian Senate President David Mark said in a statement.

Authorities declined to comment on who they suspect, but similar raids have been blamed on Muslim herdsmen in the past.

Mark Lipdo, who runs a Christian advocacy group known as the Stefanos Foundation, gave a list of the 13 villages where he got reports of attacks. He said they were all Christian.

He blamed Muslim herdsmen of the Fulani ethnic group for the attacks. However, Nurudeen Abdullahi, Plateau State Chairman of Miyetti Allah Fulani Herdsmen Association, denied any involvement by the herdsmen.

"This a usual propaganda used on our people but we are not the ones that attacked the villages in the area," he said.

Abdullahi accused Christian farmers of attacking Muslim settlements and stealing their cows.

Jos and surrounding Plateau state have been torn apart in recent years by violence pitting its different ethnic groups and major religions ? Christianity and Islam ? against each other. While divided by religion, politics and economics often fuel the fighting.

These are just the latest killings to target the Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas, regions of farmlands that supply produces like potatoes, corn and tomatoes to the rest of the nation.

Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people, is largely divided into a mainly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north. Jos is located in the "middle belt," at the meeting point of these two regions.

Human Rights Watch says at least 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes around Jos in 2010.

However, the rise of a northern-based Islamist insurgency known as Boko Haram has added a new dimension to the long-running conflict, fanning religious tensions in this flashpoint area.

Salisu said authorities discovered a bomb and safely detonated it late Friday in a populated neighborhood in the city of Jos.

They declined to say who they suspect but sect members have claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in Jos in the past.

All previous Jos attacks have targeted churches, a deliberate move to trigger more religious violence, many have said. They all sparked reprisals.

___

Associated Press writers Yinka Ibukun in Lagos and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-08-Nigeria-Violence/id-2516d5cd64874778a4c47fa6801624f9

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Christine Khemis of Seattle Named Top Long-Term Care Insurance Specialist in Washington State

MOUNTAIN LAKES, N.J. (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) ??Today the Personal PR Forum, a professional network offering do-it-yourself public relations help, applauds member Christine Khemis for winning a top award in the LTC industry. The Personal PR Forum (PPR Forum for short) was launched this year by the EraNova Institute.

In the state of Washington, Seattle area resident Khemis is number one in making long-term care insurance available to consumers and businesses, according to the industry?s trade group, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI). Khemis came out tops in Washington in the 2012 National Long-Term Care Sales Achievement Awards, which recognizes producers based on sales across multiple categories.

?I?m happy to be singled out,? says Khemis. ?The award is a sign I?m helping lots of people protect their assets and lifestyles from the devastation of unexpected care needs.?

?Part of Khemis? success stems from excellent public exposure,? says Dick Samson, director of the Personal PR Forum (PPR Forum for short). ?She has a knack for coming across in a very positive way in every medium: print, Internet, telephone, on the platform, before company groups, and one-to-one.?

An article on the PPR Forum site ? http://pprforum.ning.com ? features Khemis, revealing secrets of her success. It also provides links to other information about her and her website.

Khemis is a licensed insurance agent and long-term care specialist with LTC Financial Partners, LLC (LTCFP), a national agency of long-term care professionals. Her primary goal is to educate her clients to help them protect their independence, assets and peace of mind. She has a straightforward approach when consulting with clients, helping them choose personalized long-term care products and providing innovative solutions for their individual needs.

In addition to helping individuals find affordable long-term care protection, she regularly provides educational programs for accountants, attorneys, and insurance and financial professionals. She also works with employers who are concerned about their employees and the effect that long-term care needs may have on a family, both financial and emotional.

The Personal PR Forum, a service of EraNova Institute, provides do-it-yourself public relations tools and resources for professional people. Those wishing to join may apply at http://pprforum.ning.com/main/authorization/signUp.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Dick Samson
of EraNova Institute
dicksamson@eranova.com
+1-973-335-3699

NEWS SOURCE: EraNova Institute

Source: http://send2pressnewswire.com/2012/07/09/s2p6365_071540.php

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In Iowa, Obama to make pitch on tax cuts

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 9, 2012. Facing sagging jobs numbers, President Barack Obama seeks to recast the election as a debate over tax fairness, calling for a temporary tax cut extension but just for low and middle income earners. The president?s pitch is aimed at painting Mitt Romney as a protector of the rich while ramping up questions about the Republican challenger?s own wealth. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 9, 2012. Facing sagging jobs numbers, President Barack Obama seeks to recast the election as a debate over tax fairness, calling for a temporary tax cut extension but just for low and middle income earners. The president?s pitch is aimed at painting Mitt Romney as a protector of the rich while ramping up questions about the Republican challenger?s own wealth. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Secret Service agents and Aspen police stand guard outside a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday, July 9, 2012 in Aspen, Colo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney are clashing in a reinvigorated election-year debate over tax fairness, with both sides claiming their position is best for a struggling middle class.

Romney challenged Obama's call for a one-year extension of tax cuts limited to households earning less than $250,000, saying the U.S. needed to restore economic freedom for everyone.

"To restore economic freedom we have to have taxes that are competitive with other nations," Romney told radio host Michael Medved on Monday.

Romney has pushed for an extension of all the cuts signed into law by President George W. Bush. The across-the-board cuts will expire at the end of the year unless Congress acts.

A day after the president sought to elevate the tax debate as a key election-year issue, Obama was to make his tax pitch in Iowa, the state that launched his presidential bid in 2008. He faces a tough contest there against Romney this fall.

The White House and Obama's campaign want to use the tax debate to portray congressional Republicans as obstructionists and Romney as a defender of the wealthy who is willing to push an across-the-board extension of the tax breaks at the expense of those earning more modest incomes.

"Let's not hold the vast majority of Americans and our entire economy hostage while we debate the merits of another tax cut for the wealthy," Obama said Monday at the White House.

Obama threatened to veto a full extension of the Bush tax cuts, saying in an interview with WWL-TV in New Orleans on Monday that a tax cut for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans would cost $1 trillion over the next decade at a time when the nation needs to reduce the federal deficit.

On Tuesday, the Obama campaign reiterated calls for Romney to release more of his tax returns. In a video posted on YouTube, the campaign asks: "How long can Romney keep information on his investments in overseas tax havens secret? And why did he do it in the first place?"

Emphasizing the consequences to families, Obama was meeting Tuesday with an Iowa couple that the White House said would benefit from his tax plan. He was then holding a campaign event at a Cedar Rapids community college where he planned to make the case for the extension for those earning $250,000 or less.

Obama was making another visit to a battleground state with a more positive economic outlook than other parts of the nation. Iowa's strong farm economy has pushed the state's unemployment rate down to 5.1 percent, well below the national average of 8.2 percent. Obama took a bus tour through parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania last week ? both states have more positive jobless rates than the rest of the nation ? and was campaigning in Virginia on Friday and Saturday. Virginia's unemployment rate is 5.5 percent.

Yet polls in Iowa have shown Obama locked in a tight race with Romney for the state's six electoral votes, a potential warning sign after Obama triumphed in Iowa's leadoff caucuses in 2008 and then captured the state in the general election.

Senior campaign adviser David Plouffe said Tuesday the Obama campaign wants to focus its appeal on battleground states "to educate voters about what the choice is" in 2012.

Plouffe said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the Obama camp is concerned about the role of super PACs in bankrolling Romney's challenge, charging that they want to "buy the White House" for the former Massachusetts governor.

"Money matters in politics," he said.

Many voters have expressed wariness about Obama's handling of the economy, his plans to reduce the federal debt and his ability to cure Washington gridlock. An NBC News/Marist poll in Iowa released in late May gave Romney a slight edge (46 percent to 41 percent) on who would best handle the economy ? but when asked who would do a better job of reducing the national debt, voters gave Romney a solid advantage over Obama (52 percent to 34 percent).

"The president's got his work cut out for him here. It's not one to be marked over into his column by any stretch of the imagination," said Rob Tully, a former Iowa state party chairman. "But this state could easily go back into the president's column if there's commonsense decisions made between now and November."

Republicans were countering Obama on multiple fronts. Ahead of Obama's visit, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, called the president's tax plan another attempt to "divide people one against another based on class warfare. The very people we need to invest and create jobs are afraid to because they're afraid their taxes are going up."

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, was shadowing Obama in Cedar Rapids with a news conference where he planned to accuse the president of wasting taxpayer money on stimulus programs that he said created jobs overseas. It aimed to rebut criticism from Democrats that Romney's former private equity firm did business with companies that shifted jobs to lower-wage countries to cut costs.

Romney was holding fundraisers in Colorado and planned to discuss energy policies on Tuesday in Grand Junction, Colo., an oil town in the western part of the state. The former Massachusetts governor held a closed-door fundraiser Monday night in Aspen, where between 300 and 400 guests gave about $2.4 million, according to the campaign.

Guests in Ferraris, Bentleys and Porsches drove down a private gravel road past a horse ranch to valet park outside the sprawling stone private home. Romney's staff set up speakers blaring music outside of the tent set up in the backyard, noise that prevented reporters on the public sidewalk outside from hearing any of Romney's remarks.

Romney's event in Grand Junction carried some symbolic meaning. It was the site of an August 2009 Obama rally where he focused on selling his national health care plan to the American people.

___

Hunt reported from Aspen, Colo. Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont contributed from Des Moines, Iowa.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-10-Presidential%20Campaign/id-a6feddf1dfe9443cbc68ff119e2638bb

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Marcus Camby To Knicks In Sign-And-Trade Deal: REPORT

HOUSTON (AP) ? Marcus Camby has agreed to rejoin the New York Knicks in a deal that sends three players and two second-round draft picks to the Houston Rockets, according to a person with direct knowledge of the move.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because neither team has announced the trade.

The Rockets, continuing to reshape their roster after missing the playoffs for the third straight season, will get guard Toney Douglas, centers Josh Harrelson and Jerome Jordan and second-round picks in 2014 and 2015. Camby, meanwhile, returns to New York, where he played from 1998-2002.

Houston obtained Camby from Portland at the trading deadline. He averaged 7.1 points and 9.3 rebounds in 19 games for the Rockets, who traded starting center Samuel Dalembert before last month's draft.

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