Japan Is Eager to Tap U.S. Natural-Gas Supply

TOKYO?Congress could still block efforts to expand exports of America?s newly abundant supplies of natural gas, but there?s no question where Japan stands on the prospect of ships carrying liquefied natural gas from the U.S. arriving at its shores.

?From all the aspects, U.S. LNG is a very, very shining treasure ? for us,? said Hirohide Hirai, director of policy evaluation and public relations at Japan?s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Hirai, former director of the petroleum and natural-gas division at the ministry, told National Journal this week that he is confident the United States will take advantage of the increased trade opportunity by allowing LNG exports to Japan.

Hirai said that his conversations with U.S. officials, energy lobbyists, and consultants about the growing natural-gas market in Japan have left him confident that LNG exports will get a ?green signal? from the U.S.

?There should be some noises, of course,? Hirai said, but he added that when he spoke to Energy Department officials about gas exports, ?they didn?t say no.?

Hirai has spent a lot of time negotiating this opportunity with U.S. energy officials and his ?friends? in Washington since the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that has resulted in the shutdown of nuclear power plants in Japan and has shaken the country?s energy sector.

?As you know, without nuclear power, LNG is the most promising, most reliable ? alternative resource for us,? Hirai said. Japan is already the world?s largest importer of natural gas, with much of it coming from politically volatile nations in the Middle East. Japan also gets about 10 percent of its gas supply from Russia and is planning to buy more, despite the risks of price-gouging by the state-controlled gas company, Gazprom.

Into the picture comes the possibility of cheaper U.S. natural gas resulting from the shale-gas boom, which could be extremely helpful to Japan?s struggling energy economy.

Developments in the United States present a unique opportunity for Japan and for the natural gas market, which is mostly dominated by government-owned or government-backed monopolies. The insertion of U.S. gas into the export market could break some of these monopolies and change the price of gas as a result.

The United States is in a good position to increase gas exports because it has a number of former gas-import terminals that could be converted into export facilities for far less than the cost of building new ones.

But some U.S. lawmakers worry that increasing exports could raise domestic prices and threaten the nation?s energy independence. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is expected to chair the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, has been one of the most vocal opponents of natural-gas exports and will likely take up the issue from his new post.

?The policy needs reconsideration,? Wyden said in a statement earlier this month, referring to the current U.S. policy that favors approval of natural-gas exports to countries that share free-trade agreements with the U.S. ?It could harm the nation?s ability to achieve energy independence, combat pollution, and preserve the environment.?

And Wyden?s concerns don?t even account for the possibility of exporting gas to Japan, which is not yet a U.S. free-trade partner. Japan is pushing to become part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a U.S.-led free-trade agreement to be negotiated over the next year.

On that score, Wyden said, ?Any final agreement on a Trans-Pacific Partnership must not constrain the U.S. from reshaping its energy policy, which may include new treatment of natural-gas exports.?

During a meeting this week with President Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda urged the parties to ?accelerate discussions? on Japan joining the TPP, which could open the doors to much-needed gas imports for Japan, among other free-trade opportunities.

The Obama administration strongly supports Japan?s entry into the free-trade agreement, and the president reinforced that view during his visit to Asia this week.

Olga Belogolova is reporting from Japan through a program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists and funded by the U.S.-Japan Foundation

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-eager-tap-u-natural-gas-supply-060004614--politics.html

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Real Estate agents | Surfing Dinosaur

Finding a reputable realtor can make buying or selling a house uncomplicated, less stressful, and more economical. Professional realtors are experienced with predict the housing market and the buying/selling process to help their clients get the best price at the best time. But selecting the right realtor can be incredibly difficult, as there are many realtors who might not be the right for you. When selecting an agent, make sure you find out what credentials they have and what tools they can utilize. Pay close attention to the way they talk and listen to you, the cleanliness of their office, and how their payment preference. By doing your research, you can find the right realtor that will keep you at the top of the real estate game. Real Estate Riverton

This entry was posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2012 at 10:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://surfingdino.com/real-estate-agents/

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Egypt protesters attack Mursi's party offices

Some of the very same Republicans who have spent the last two weeks bashing Mitt Romney were, indeed, sucking up to him at a massive rally the Friday before the election ? even angling for jobs in the Romney administration ? a Romney adviser complains. At a rally with 100 Romney surrogates in West Chester, Ohio, Romney aide Dan Senor revealed on?MSNBC Wednesday, the Romney bashers were Romney fawners. "I?m backstage with some of them, I won?t mention their names, but they?re talking about Romney like he?s Reagan," Senor said. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-protesters-ransack-mursis-party-office-alexandria-130610331.html

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Painting exhibition starts - The Lahore Times

By Staff Reporter

Published: November 23, 2012

LAHORE: A painting exhibition by AQ Arif and Mussarat Arif kicked off at Ejaz Art Gallery on Thursday. A large number of art-lovers were present on the occasion. Almost 35 paintings are on display with beautiful colour strokes which try to give a variation in calligraphy by using designs of Sindhi Ajrak and Mirror work.

Paintings of historical places present in Pakistan were also on the display trying to an impact of red stone and brown stone used at ancient times. Students from Punjab University and National College of Arts were also attended the exhibition and admired the work done by both artists.

Talking to The Lahore Times, AQ Arif said that he has tried to show and preserve the damaging heritage present in our country. He said that he has used oil on canvas using colours relating red stone and brown to show clear view of stones used to make buildings at that time.

?I have also used blue and green colour in my paintings giving an inspiration of sky and atmosphere as blue colour gives a relaxing impact,? Arif said. Mussarat Arif said that she has tried to give a variation in calligraphy using designs of Sindhi Ajrak and Mirror work. She said that she has used oil on canvas using gold and silver leaves. ?This is my second exhibition in Lahore,? Mussarat said.

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Source: http://www.lhrtimes.com/2012/11/23/painting-exhibition-starts/

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Samsung Galaxy Camera arrives in Canada on Dec. 7

With the Samsung Galaxy Camera already on sale in Europe and the U.S., Samsung is set to expand the reach of its Android-powered point-and-shoot, with a Canadian launch now scheduled for Dec. 7.

The Canadian Galaxy Camera will be the same quad-band HSPA+/Wifi version that's on sale in other territories. The device features a 16MP sensor and 21X Samsung Zoom Lens, backed up by a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos chip, which runs TouchWiz-flavored Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

No specific pricing is mentioned in today's announcement, but it's likely the Canadian price will fall close to the $499 amount charged by AT&T in the U.S.

Source: Newswire; via: MobileSyrup

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Qi1-Xo7MLZM/story01.htm

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The evolution of human intellect: Human-specific regulation of neuronal genes

Thursday, November 22, 2012

A new study published November 20 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology has identified hundreds of small regions of the genome that appear to be uniquely regulated in human neurons. These regulatory differences distinguish us from other primates, including monkeys and apes, and as neurons are at the core of our unique cognitive abilities, these features may ultimately hold the key to our intellectual prowess (and also to our potential vulnerability to a wide range of 'human-specific' diseases from autism to Alzheimer's).

Exploring which features in the genome separate human neurons from their non-human counterparts has been a challenging task until recently; primate genomes comprise billions of base pairs (the basic building blocks of DNA), and comparisons between the human and chimpanzee genomes alone reveal close to 40 million differences. Most of these are thought to merely reflect random 'genetic drift' during the course of evolution, so the challenge was to identify the small set of changes that have functionally important consequences, as these might help to explain the genomic basis of the emergence of human-specific neuronal function.

The key to the present study, led by Dr Schahram Akbarian of the University of Massachusetts and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, was not to focus on the "letters" of the DNA code, but rather on what might be called its "font" or "typeface"?the DNA strands of the genome are wrapped in protein to make a chromatin fiber, and the way in which they are wrapped, the "chromatin state", in turn reflects the regulatory state of that region of the genome (e.g. whether a given gene is turned on or off). This is the field that biologists call "epigenetics"?the study of the "epigenome".

Dr Akbarian and colleagues set out to isolate small snippets of chromatin fibers from the frontal cortex, a brain region involved in complex cognitive operations. They were then able to analyze these snippets for the chemical signals (histone methylation) that define the regulatory state (on/off) of the chromatin. The results of their analysis identified hundreds of regions throughout the genome which showed a markedly different chromatin structure in neurons from human children and adults, compared to chimpanzees and macaques.

This treasure trove of short genomic regions is now providing researchers with interesting new leads involving the evolution of the human brain. Although some of the regions have remained unchanged during primate evolution, some more tantalizing ones have recently changed, having a DNA sequence that is unique to humans and our close extinct relatives, the Neanderthals and the Denisovans. The study also uncovered examples where several of these regulatory DNA regions appear to physically interact with each other inside the cell nucleus, despite being separated by hundreds of thousands of base pairs on the linear genome. This phenomenon of "chromatin looping" is implicated in controlling the expression of neighboring genes, including several with a critical role for human brain development.

The study, from laboratories based in the United States, Switzerland and Russia, draws further attention to the role of epigenetics and the epigenome in our biology and our evolution. As Dr Akbarian notes, "Much about human biology and disease cannot be deduced by simply sequencing the genome. Mapping the epigenome of neurons and other cells will help us to better understand the inner workings of our brain, and where we are coming from."

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Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125410/The_evolution_of_human_intellect__Human_specific_regulation_of_neuronal_genes

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'Dancing' finalists talk girl power, Val's Speedo

By Michael Maloney, TODAY contributor

ABC

The "Dancing With the Stars" all-star finalists.

Kelly Monaco and Val Chmerkovskiy?s surfer-flamenco dance on Monday's "Dancing With the Stars" failed to impress the judges, who scored the routine low. But did the pro?s sculpted, Speedo-clad body prompt viewers to vote him through to the finals?

?Nah,? Chmerkovskiy demurred to reporters after the show. ?I think the Speedo might have distracted (voters.)?

So what does he credit getting him and his all-star partner to the finals next week?

?Kelly helped,? he said. ?Her work ethic (helped) the most. (She) is so talented.?

Monaco is happy to share being in the finale with two other female stars -- Shawn Johnson and Melissa Rycroft.

?It?s amazing,? she said. ?It happened, and I embrace girl power.?

Rycroft was nauseated after Tuesday's show, but not because she was nervous about the finals.

?Something?s going around and yeah, I got it this morning,? she said.

Rycroft said that she and pro partner Tony Dovolani, who?s still nursing a back injury, ?make a good combo? and that they planned to take a night off and come in fresh in the morning.

?Now that we know what the competition looks like, we can make our plan of attack for the finals,? she said.

Rycroft?s the only finalist this season who?s never won the coveted mirror-ball trophy, but don?t call her the underdog.

?I don?t want to think of it like that,? she said. ?I can?t. I don?t want to. I just want to go in and say this is our time to show off. Let?s think of what we can do that no one else can at this (point in the) competition.?

Next week's finals will be jam-packed with dancing.

?(There will be) two dances and an ?insta-dance? and we have to do a repeat dance,? Derek Hough, Johnson?s partner, previewed.

While Hough is already a big winner with three mirror ball trophies on his mantel, he thinks that because there are three female celebs competing, it?s truly anyone?s prize to win.

?It?s a very equal playing field,? he offered. ?It?s not like the girls vote for the guys or the guys vote for the girls. They?re all the same gender. It will be really interesting to see how it all plays out.?

Which one of the all-stars are you rooting for in the finals? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2012/11/21/15333424-dancing-with-the-stars-finalists-talk-girl-power-last-dances-and-vals-speedo?lite

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