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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45751816#45751816
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Chemists solve an 84-year-old theory on how molecules move energy after light absorption
ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2011) ? The same principle that causes figure skaters to spin faster as they draw their arms into their bodies has now been used by Michigan State University researchers to understand how molecules move energy around following the absorption of light.
Conservation of angular momentum is a fundamental property of nature, one that astronomers use to detect the presence of satellites circling distant planets. In 1927, it was proposed that this principle should apply to chemical reactions, but a clear demonstration has never been achieved.
In the current issue of Science, MSU chemist Jim McCusker demonstrates for the first time the effect is real and also suggests how scientists could use it to control and predict chemical reaction pathways in general.
"The idea has floated around for decades and has been implicitly invoked in a variety of contexts, but no one had ever come up with a chemical system that could demonstrate whether or not the underlying concept was valid," McCusker said. "Our result not only validates the idea, but it really allows us to start thinking about chemical reactions from an entirely different perspective."
The experiment involved the preparation of two closely related molecules that were specifically designed to undergo a chemical reaction known as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, or FRET. Upon absorption of light, the system is predisposed to transfer that energy from one part of the molecule to another.
McCusker's team changed the identity of one of the atoms in the molecule from chromium to cobalt. This altered the molecule's properties and shut down the reaction. The absence of any detectable energy transfer in the cobalt-containing compound confirmed the hypothesis.
"What we have successfully conducted is a proof-of-principle experiment," McCusker said. "One can easily imagine employing these ideas to other chemical processes, and we're actually exploring some of these avenues in my group right now."
The researchers believe their results could impact a variety of fields including molecular electronics, biology and energy science through the development of new types of chemical reactions.
Dong Guo, a postdoctoral researcher, and Troy Knight, former graduate student and now research scientist at Dow Chemical, were part of McCusker's team. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation.
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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111222152010.htm
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Banks gorge on ECB loans, market cheer short-lived (Reuters)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) ? Banks gobbled up nearly 490 billion euros in three-year cut-price loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, easing immediate fears of a credit crunch but leaving unresolved how much will flow to needy euro zone economies.
Following a string of failed attempts by euro zone leaders to thwart market attacks on the bloc's weaker members, hopes of crisis relief before the year-end had been pinned on a massive uptake of the ECB's ultra-long and ultra-cheap loans.
The near half a trillion euro take-up of ECB funds represented the most the bank has ever pumped into the financial system and exceeded almost all forecasts. A total of 523 banks borrowed with demand way above the 310 billion euros expected by traders polled by Reuters,
"The take-up was massive ... much higher than the expected 300 billion euros. Liquidity on the banking system has now increased considerably," said Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy.
The funding should bolster banks' finances, ease the threat of a credit crunch and may tempt them to buy Italian and Spanish bonds, thereby easing the currency area's sovereign debt crisis.
But analysts said there was little prospect of the cash being hurled at the debt of euro zone weaklings and, while an interbank lending freeze may have been averted, the lack of trust between banks to lend to each other remains unresolved.
Optimism that the lunge for funding would ease Europe's two-year old debt crisis quickly faded, sending the euro and stocks lower after an initial jump.
Banks have struggled to attract funding mainly because of worries about the underlying health of euro zone countries and their exposure to it, so becoming more reliant on the ECB and pledging more assets against those loans may add to the problem.
"It's helpful. It's more than a sticking plaster, although it's by no means the solution longer term," said Chris Wheeler, bank analyst at Mediobanca in London.
HELP FOR ITALY AND SPAIN?
The debt problems of Greece, Portugal, Ireland and now Italy and Spain have taken the euro zone's troubles to new heights in recent months and raised serious questions about whether the euro, the currency shared by the 17 euro zone countries, can survive in its current form.
While a lending crunch may have been avoided thanks to the ECB's latest move, it is much less certain that banks will use the money to buy Italian and Spanish government debt, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged, given the competing pressures on them to cut risk, rebuild capital and lend to business.
"While this might help to address recent signs of renewed tensions in credit markets and support bank lending, we remain skeptical of the idea that the operation will ease the sovereign debt crisis too," said Jonathan Loynes, Chief European Economist at Capital Economics.
Banks will not increase their exposure to sovereign debt because European Bank Authority (EBA) rules discourage it, Italy's banking association (ABI) said.
"The EBA rules are a deterrent for buying sovereign bonds, so not even the ECB's important liquidity injection ... can be used to support sovereign debt," ABI director general Giovanni Sabatini told reporters.
Given those doubts, most market experts say only more aggressive and direct buying of government bonds by the ECB will help ameliorate the crisis, something it is reluctant to do.
Italy alone faces about 150 billion euros of debt refinancing between April and March and data on Wednesday showed its economy - the euro zone's third largest - shrank in the third quarter, while the ABI forecast a recession next year.
"The crisis is far from over. What I am particularly concerned about is the first quarter of 2012, because of financing needs which are very high," one senior euro zone policymaker told Reuters.
"The fact that the ECB has now made available the 3 year credit lines plus made the collateral more flexible will help banks a lot."
Italian banks tapped the ECB for more than 110 billion euros, an Italian banking source told Reuters while a source from a Spanish bank said nearly all Spanish banks had participated in the 3-year ECB auction and taken up between 50 billion and 100 billion euros.
FUNDING JUGGLE
One of the key factors certain to have boosted demand is that banks are now more reliant than ever on central bank funds. The ECB said on Monday, in its semi-annual Financial Stability Review, that this dependency could be difficult to cure.
French banks have almost quadrupled their intake of ECB money since June to 150 billion euros, while banks in Italy and Spain are each taking more than 100 billion euros.
ECB President Mario Draghi had been pressing banks to take the money since announcing the plans earlier this month. He warned of a chance of a credit crunch on Monday and said that euro zone bond market pressure could rise to unprecedented levels early next year.
The 3-year funds were offered at an interest rate which will be the average of ECB's main interest rate over the next three years. That benchmark rate is, after a rate cut earlier this month, at a record low of 1.0 percent.
For some banks the new money could be more than 3 percentage points cheaper than they can get on the open market. As part of the deal, they were able to convert one-year loans they took from the ECB in October into the new three-year loans and also will be able to pay it back after just a year if they so wish.
The ECB was already lending banks 515 billion euros before Wednesday but the new loans will not simply stack on top.
Banks switched 45.7 billion euros out of the one-year loans they took in October. They also scaled down their three-month borrowing from the ECB to 30 billion euros from 140 billion and almost halved their intake of one-week loans this week.
Analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland said the actual amount of new money going in to the system as a result of that juggling reduced the headline number to around 200 billion euros.
"The key question now is whether this net new liquidity addition of close to 200 billion euros will be used to purchase sovereign bonds, lend to the economy or pay maturing bonds," said RBS economist Nick Matthews.
(Reporting by Marc Jones, additional reporting Luca Trogni, Gabriella Bruschi, Stefano Bernabei, Steve Slater, Jesus Aguado and Jan Strupczewski, editing by Mike Peacock)
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Germany may pay full ESM contribution in 2012: report (Reuters)
BERLIN (Reuters) ? Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the country may pay its full contribution to the euro zone's permanent rescue fund in 2012, a regional German paper wrote.
"It is clear that the sooner and the more paid-in capital the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) has, the more it gains trust on the financial markets," he was quoted as saying by the Rheinische Post Duesseldorf, in an interview to appear in Monday's print edition. "My priority is to create trust."
The Finance Ministry was unavailable to comment.
European leaders agreed in Brussels last week to accelerate the launch of the ESM by a year to mid-2012, as part of measures aimed at putting an end to a devastating debt crisis.
The ESM, which will replace the temporary EFSF bailout fund, will have an effective lending capacity of 500 billion euros ($651.9 billion) and total subscribed capital of 700 billion euros, of which 80 billion euros will be paid-in capital from euro zone countries.
EU leaders agreed earlier this year that the paid-in capital will be channeled into the fund over five years in five equal installments.
Germany's total contribution to the paid-in capital is set for 21.5 billion euros, paid in instalments of 4.3 billion euros. Earlier this year, it was reticent to pay up its contribution at a faster pace, due to concerns about sticking to its debt brake and consolidating its own budget.
Schaeuble was cited earlier this week by a newspaper as saying Germany would fund its contribution to the ESM with a supplementary budget.
A government source told Reuters earlier this week that Germany's first instalment could be much higher than previously planned "because people want the ESM to be able to act soon."
The statement of rating agency Fitch on Friday that a comprehensive solution to the euro zone crisis was beyond the region's reach has heightened pressure on leaders to get to grips with the turmoil.
The chairman of euro zone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Wednesday he would like all paid-in capital for the ESM to be contributed during its first year of operation, to ensure it had the firepower to deter speculation.
Schaeuble was also cited as saying the new fiscal compact for all European Union member states except Britain - which last week vetoed it - should be implemented by March 2012, and the new treaty for a stability union should be linked to the ESM treaty.
"It would make sense for the new pact to be linked with the new ESM treaty," he said. "That would mean that solidarity is inseparable from solidity."
"Markets want to see actions," he said.
The 'fiscal compact' is meant to allow closer scrutiny of countries' spending to stop a similar debt crisis recurring and potentially making it more palatable for the European Central Bank to step up its purchases of distressed euro zone debt to hold down borrowing costs.
(Reporting By Sarah Marsh and Axel Hildebrandt)
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
TransCanada bets expansion plan will help Keystone (Reuters)
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) ? Buoyed by renewed pledges of customer support, TransCanada Corp said on Thursday it not only wants to proceed with its stalled Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline but to undertake a $600 million expansion and extension.
The company is betting its proposed expansion of the original $7 billion plan to carry Alberta oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast will hammer home Keystone's economic benefits to politicians and trump the environmental worries that have prompted a lengthy delay in its U.S. approval process.
TransCanada said shippers for Keystone XL, target of vocal protests by green groups and Hollywood celebrities for much of 2011, have backed a 19 percent increase in capacity as well as plans to build an extension to Houston-area refineries.
The move, which is subject to the delayed regulatory approval, would boost capacity for the oil sands crude to 830,000 barrels a day from 700,000.
It would also double the refining capacity on the Gulf Coast accessible by Keystone XL, the Calgary-based company said. It expanded the proposal after an "open season" in which customers made conditional shipping commitments.
The beefed-up proposal has no bearing on the U.S. State Department's deliberations on approving the project, TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said.
Last month, the State Department, after studying the project for more than three years, pushed off its decision well into 2013, past the U.S. presidential election next November.
"There's still a process to be followed with the Department of State and getting approval," Cunha said. "But what it does outline is we continue to get strong support from the shippers to build this project and deliver crude oil into the U.S. Gulf Coast."
The pipeline controversy is politically troublesome for President Barack Obama as it pits his supporters with strong green views against those seeking the energy security and jobs that the project's backers have touted.
Critics say Keystone XL would bring risks of oil spills to much of the central United States and foster more development of carbon-intensive tar sands production.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have tried to push Obama to fast-track an approval of the pipeline in exchange for supporting the extension of a payroll tax cut. Obama has said he would veto such a bill.
One reason for delaying the ruling was to study rerouting part of the line away from a massive underground water source in Nebraska, which was a big concern among lawmakers in the state. But TransCanada and the state hammered out an agreement on that just days after Washington slammed the brakes on the process.
At stake for the oil market is the promise of an end to a costly glut of oil supply at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub, where surging supplies from Canada and the Bakken region of North Dakota have led to deep price discounts.
With Keystone XL delayed, other proposals have emerged to drain away supplies from Cushing, chief among them Enbridge Inc and Enterprise Products Partners' plan to reverse the flow direction of the Seaway pipeline between the Gulf Coast and Cushing with eventual throughput reaching 400,000 bpd.
TransCanada executives have discussed the possibility of moving forward with Keystone XL's Cushing-to-Gulf portion before the overall project wins a green light, but it is not known if that is possible with the State Department review going on.
"I think those discussions are still ongoing, so nothing has been confirmed at this time," Cunha said.
Under its expansion proposal, TransCanada would build a 48-mile lateral line to Houston from the pipeline's terminus at Nederland, Texas. It could be in service by 2014, pending regulatory approval.
(Editing by Peter Galloway)
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Murphy, police chief who urged restraint, dies (AP)
NEW YORK ? Patrick V. Murphy, who battled police corruption and urged officers to hold their fire as head of the New York, Detroit and Washington forces during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, died Friday. He was 91.
Murphy died of a heart attack at a hospital in Wilmington, N.C., his son, Gerard Murphy, said.
"Pat Murphy was the visionary embodiment of police reform," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a written statement. "In the face of fierce opposition from entrenched police leadership nationally, he revolutionized policy to restrain the use of deadly force."
Murphy was born in Brooklyn and became a police patrolman after serving as a Navy pilot in World War II. He rose through the ranks of the NYPD, then left to become the top police official in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1962. He later headed the forces in Washington and Detroit.
He became known as a fighter against corruption and police brutality.
"If you were a big-city mayor with a slightly berserk police department on your hands, there was one preferred remedy. You hired Patrick V. Murphy for your chief," Washington Post reporter James Lardner wrote in 1978.
In 1968, Murphy ordered police not to shoot at looters during the riots that wracked Washington following the killing of Martin Luther King Jr.
New York Mayor John Lindsay brought in Murphy in 1970 to clean up the NYPD after police whistleblowers Frank Serpico and David Durk rocked the force with allegations of rampant graft.
Murphy started planting internal spies, known as "field associates," in the police department to watch for corruption.
"The field associates concept was your basic double-agent system," Murphy said in his book, "Commissioner: A View from the Top of American Law Enforcement."
New police academy graduates were taken to the office of Murphy's anticorruption coordinator, William McCarthy. Some would sit in the outer office, while others were brought in and invited to become field associates.
Then the rookies would all be dispatched to their precincts, where their co-workers would assume that all of them were anti-corruption spies, even the ones that had never been signed up.
In 1972, Murphy instituted new rules restricting the use of deadly force to situations in which police needed to defend a life. The change overturned the "fleeing felon rule," which had allowed police to shoot at fugitives.
Murphy also pioneered the "Cop of the Block" concept, later known as community policing, which encouraged police to get to know the residents of the neighborhoods they were patrolling.
He led the NYPD until the end of Lindsay's term in 1973.
"It was a rough time ... but he was very proud of his work there," Gerard Murphy said.
Murphy later became a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and spent 12 years as president of the Police Foundation, an advocacy group. He also helped found the Police Executive Research Forum and was an adviser on police issues for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
"Police chiefs across the nation recognize Patrick Murphy as an icon in the field of policing, and agree that he played a historic role in changing the landscape of policing for the better," the Police Executive Research Forum said Friday.
Murphy's survivors include his wife, Betty Murphy, and eight children. A funeral will be held Wednesday at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church in Wilmington, Gerard said.
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