"We're measuring the elastic properties of paper at manufacturing speeds using a noncontact, nondestructive monitor," says Paul Ridgway of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division.

Last summer, Ridgway, Russo and IPST engineers tested the laser ultrasonic sensor at a Mead Paper Company mill in Ohio. They installed the sensor on a pilot paper coating machine and ran six paper grades through the web press, ranging from copy paper to heavy linerboard. The sensor's signals remained excellent even at paper speeds up to 5,000 feet per minute, and the laser didn't damage the paper. The effects of the papers' moisture, tension, basis weight, and speed on the measurements were also examined.

"The Mead test demonstrated the instrument works in an industrial setting," Ridgway says. "It's a successful step toward a mill trial on a paper-making machine in which the environment will be much harsher. It will be hotter and wetter, and there will be more vibrations and fiber debris in the air."

The sensor is part of Industries of the Future, a research and development collaboration between the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) and several industries to improve energy and resource efficiency. Under this program, the American Forest and Paper Association created Agenda 2020, which outlines the forest products industry's goals and research priorities. To understand how the sensor contributes to this initiative, consider how paper is currently evaluated. After it's manufactured, a small sample of a three-ton paper roll is manually analyzed for its mechanical properties by observing how it bends. If the sample doesn't meet specifications, the entire roll is scrapped or sold as an inferior grade. To avoid this costly mistake, manufacturers often over engineer paper, erring on the side of caution and using more pulp than necessary to ensure the final product isn't substandard. Not only does this consume more raw materials, it consumes more energy: the more pulp used per unit of paper, the more heat is required during the drying phase, which even in the most efficient mills requires an enormous amount of energy.

Rather than rely on postproduction evaluation and hope for the best, the team has developed a sensor that measures flexibility on the fly, in real time. It also conducts the measurements without touching the paper, an important advantage given that at 30 meters per second the slightest contact can mar lightweight grades such as copy paper and newsprint. This represents an improvement over contact transducers, another real-time evaluation tool that measures paper's tensile elasticity by placing an ultrasound head directly onto the paper as it's coursing through the web. Because it touches the paper, this technique can only be used with thicker stock.

In rough terms, the sensor measures the time it takes ultrasonic shock waves to propagate from a laser-induced excitation point to a detection point only millimeters away. The velocity at which the ultrasound waves travel from the ablation point through the paper to the detection point is theoretically related to two elastic properties, bending stiffness and out-of-plane shear rigidity.

More specifically, a detection beam from a commercially available Mach-Zender interferometer is directed toward a quickly rotating mirror. As the mirror spins, the beam is reflected in a circular pattern much like a lighthouse's beam. During a portion of each revolution, the beam meets the paper as it courses along the production belt and remains with the paper until the beam's arc leaves the paper's plane. Think of the lighthouse beam momentarily tracking a speedboat as it races parallel to shore. Because both the beam and the paper are moving at the same speed, the detection beam remains on the same point on the paper throughout their brief contact.

An optical encoder determines when the detection beam is perpendicular to the paper, at which time a specially designed adjustable delay circuit fires the pulsed neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser. This nanosecond pulse causes a microscopic thermal expansion or ablation on the paper, which is too small to mar the paper and effect how it absorbs ink, but strong enough to send ultrasonic shock waves through the sheet. The waves propagate through the paper until they're registered by the detection beam. Because the laser is synchronized to only fire when the detection beam is perpendicular to the paper, the distance between the ablation point and detection point is known, and the waves' speed is calculated.

A full-scale pilot test of the laser ultrasonic sensor is scheduled for the summer of 2003. Further in the future, the sensor could provide quality-control safeguards and real-time process information for feedback control in any manufacturing process involving thin, moving sheets such as metals, plastics, polymeric materials, and glasses.

Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California.

Thoroughbred Racing

Flat racing is the term associated with Thoroughbred racing. The track is typically  oval in shape and the race is based on speed and stamina. Within the  general category of Thoroughbred flat racing, there exist two separate  types of races. These include conditions races and handicap races.  Condition races are the most prestigious and offer the biggest purses.  Handicap races assign each horse a different amount of weight to carry  based on their ability. Beside the weight they carry, the horse is also influenced by their  closeness to the inside barrier, the track surface, their gender, the  jockey, and the trainer. A typical Thoroughbred race is run on dirt,  polytrack, or turf surfaces. Polytrack is the synthetic substitute.  Thoroughbred races vary in distance, but are usually somewhere between  five and twelve furlongs. A furlong is a distance measurement equal to about one eighth of a mile or two hundred and twenty yards.

Endurance Racing

The length of an endurance race varies greatly. Some are very short,  only ten miles, while others can be up to one hundred miles. There are  a few races that are even longer than one hundred miles and last  multiple days. These different lengths of races are divided into five categories:  pleasure rides (10-20 miles), non-competitive trail rides(21-27 miles),  competitive trail rides(20-45 miles), progressive trail rides(25-60  miles), and endurance rides(40-100 miles in one day, up to 150 miles in  multiple days). Because each race is very long, the tracks are almost always just dirt.

Quarter Horse Racing

When Quarter Horse racing began, it was very expensive to lay a full  mile of track so it was agreed that a straight track of four hundred  meters, or one quarter of a mile would be laid instead. It became the standard racing distance for Quarter Horses and inspired  their name. With the exception of the longer, 870-yard (800 m) distance  contests, Quarter Horse races are run flat out, with the horses running  at top speed for the duration. There is less jockeying for position, as  turns are rare, and many races end with several contestants grouped  together at the wire. The track surface is similar to that of  Thoroughbred racing and usually consists of dirt, turf, or polytrack.

Painting your roof white will reduce global warming and conserve energy, according to Steven Chu, the Nobel prizewinning physicist who now runs the U.S. Department of Energy.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Independent, Chu said:

"If you look at all the buildings and make all the roofs white, and  if you make the pavement a more concrete-type of color than a  black-type of color, and you do this uniformly … It's the equivalent of  reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars in the world by 11  years."

Let's tackle energy conservation first. On a hot day, you'll be much  cooler wearing a white shirt than a dark shirt. This is because light  colored objects reflect more sunlight. Dark objects absorb more  sunlight than light colored objects; the absorbed light then radiates  away from the object (or is emitted from the object) as heat. Your dark  shirt is absorbing sunlight, and then releasing it as heat, which makes  you feel hotter.

A dark roof on a building is like a dark shirt. The roof absorbs  sunlight, and then radiates heat into the building. The temperature  inside the building increases, and we use energy - in the form of air  conditioning - to cool the building. Paint the roof white , the roof absorbs less sunlight,  less heat is radiated into the building, the temperature inside the  building doesn't increase as much and we don't need to use as much  energy to cool the building. That's how painting a roof white conserves energy. In the United States, the California state government has become a leader in encouraging the use of white roofs or cool roofs.

White roofs may also reduce global warming.

When sunlight is absorbed by a roof, the roof heats up and radiates heat in the form of  infrared light,  which is invisible to humans (it has a longer wavelength than red  light). Infrared light is emitted from the roof and reaches the  atmosphere, where it is absorbed by gases and re-emitted as infrared  light - a continuous cycle of absorption and emission that traps heat  in the atmosphere and increases the temperature of the Earth. Gases  that absorb and radiate infrared light are called greenhouse gases -  these include water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone.

Atmospheric gases don't absorb much visible light, which is why  sunlight reflected from a white roof - visible light - can travel  through the atmosphere and escape into outer space.

All roofs reflect and absorb sunlight. Dark roofs absorb more sunlight  and therefore emit more infrared light than white roofs, and so  contribute more to an increase in atmospheric temperature.

Incidentally, light is also absorbed by the Earth - the ground, the  soil - and returned to the atmosphere as infrared light, where it is  trapped as heat. This is the greenhouse effect. We can't paint the  Earth white to reduce global temperatures, but nature has helped us out  a bit, in the form of ice. Polar ice caps and glaciers are like big,  white roofs - they reflect much of the incoming sunlight back into the  atmosphere and out into space. Scientists and policymakers are  concerned that melting ice will expose land, decreasing the amount of  sunlight reflected back into space and increasing the amount absorbed  by the Earth and trapped in the atmosphere as heat.

Researching this post I have found no reason why we should not be  painting our roofs white . Can you think of  a reason not to do this? People might complain about having to look at  a white roof, but does an aesthetic concern outweigh conserving energy  and reducing global warming?

Minister for the Arts Senator Rod Kemp will launch Books Alive 2006 at the Australian Book Industry Awards in Sydney this evening.

This year's Books Alive ambassador, best selling Australian author Monica McInerney, will also attend the event before commencing a nationwide five-week tour to promote the campaign.

Her specially-commissioned novel, Odd One Out, is free with the purchase of any of the 50 titles in the Great Read Guide in the month of August.

The 52-page 2006 Books Alive Great Read Guide is the cornerstone of this year's program.

More than 2.5 million copies of the guide will be distributed around Australia during the month-long campaign - in the August edition of The Australian Women's Weekly and at participating bookstores, department stores, shopping centres, transport hubs and selected public libraries.

The Great Read Guide features 50 titles chosen by a panel of book industry experts, including selections of fiction, crime, thrillers, history, science, travel and biography writing.

For the first time, there is also a special children's edition of the Great Read Guide with 15 great reads for children of all ages, from picture books to teen fiction.

Books Alive chair Ms Sandra Yates AO said: "Books Alive is an invitation to all Australians, young and old, to take a journey into the imaginary world of the written word."

"This year readers can travel to medieval Europe, colonial Sydney, modern day Italy and Afghanistan or fantasy worlds in books included in the Great Read Guide.

"More than 700,000 books have found their way into the hands of readers over the past three Books Alive campaigns and we look forward to more Australians reading more over the coming month," Ms Yates said.

A TVC promoting the "50 books so good everyone will want to read them" is also screening nationally from this week until the end of August.

Books Alive is an Australian Government initiative that aims to encourage all Australians to experience the joys of reading. It is funded by the Australian Government, developed through the Australia Council for the Arts and supported by the local book industry.

The two main threats to the continuation of species in Australia, which have already caused extinctions are:

• loss of habitat - this may result from climate change, activities of humans or natural events; and
• the introduction of alien species which prey on and compete with native species for food and habitat.

Hundreds of Australian species have become extinct since Captain Cook and  Banks explored the east coast of Australia in 1770. These include at least 41 bird and mammal species and more than 100 plant species. It is likely that other species have disappeared too, without our knowledge. Biologists have now listed all those plants and animals that they know are at risk of extinction in Australia - these are called endangered species.

The endangered list includes 10 species of fish, 12 frogs, 13 reptiles, 32 birds, 33 mammals and 209 plants. In addition, there are many more species that are listed as vulnerable and some that are classified as rare. Many zoos focus on the high profile animals in danger, in order to attract paying visitors although there are also less popular species which contribute to biological diversity and which are necessary to keep our ecosystems healthy.

During the next 60 days the Service is seeking information, data and comments from the public regarding this proposal. Comments must be received by July 14, 2009.

Notice of this proposal will publish in the Federal Register on May 15, the same day the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will honor Endangered Species Day and the numerous nationwide conservation programs underway aimed at protecting America's threatened and endangered species.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA), one of the most important environmental laws in history, is credited with saving 99.9 percent of species protected by the ESA from extinction. Co-administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the purpose of the ESA is to conserve imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend.

The Oregon chub is now abundant and well-distributed throughout most of its historical range, which spans the Willamette Valley. Populations are currently found from the North Santiam River in the north to the Middle Fork Willamette River in the south.

The Fish and Wildlife Service listed the chub as endangered in 1993 after receiving a petition with conclusive data that cited a 98 percent reduction in the range of the species. Critical habitat was not designated at the time of listing, but a proposal is currently being developed.

The decline of the chub came about at a time when the environment of the Willamette River was undergoing large-scale changes. Extensive alteration of the Willamette and its tributaries resulted in the loss of the sloughs and side channels that provide important chub habitat. Non-native fishes have become established throughout the Willamette basin and are considered to be the greatest threat to the chub's survival.

A recovery plan for Oregon chub established criteria for changing its status to threatened (downlisting) and for removing it from the list of endangered and threatened species (delisting). The plan recommended specific recovery actions that would protect existing sites, establish new populations, research the chub's ecology and increase public involvement. The recovery plan determined that the species should be considered for reclassification to threatened when 10 large populations were distributed throughout the species' range, with a stable or increasing trend for at least five years.

Along with implementing the recovery actions, a team of state and federal agencies joined together and funded extensive surveys for Oregon chub. The surveys led to the discovery of many new populations. In addition, successful reintroductions established nine new populations of chub within its historical range. These actions have contributed to a dramatic improvement in the status of the chub and, currently, there are 35 populations of Oregon chub distributed throughout the Willamette Valley. Of these, 19 have more than 500 individuals.

The Service commonly works with other federal agencies, State and tribal governments, environmental organizations, industry groups, species experts, academia, the scientific community, and other members of the public to conserve our Nation's threatened and endangered fish, wildlife, and plants. 

"Now, more than ever before, we need the contributions of our partners to achieve recovery and conservation of America's imperiled species," said Endangered Species Assistant Director Bryan Arroyo. "Leveraging the resources, experience and expertise of a wide range of partners is vital to our combined success."

Two Safe Harbor Agreements are already in place to guide management of Oregon chub populations on private lands, and the Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to extend the program to allow more private landowners to participate.

The Oregon chub is a small minnow, less than 3.5 inches long, and is endemic (unique to a specific place) to the Willamette River Basin in western Oregon. The chub has an olive-colored back, grading to silver on the sides and white on the belly. Oregon chub thrive in slack water habitats such as beaver ponds, oxbows, side channels, backwater sloughs, low gradient tributaries and flooded marshes, which provide abundant aquatic vegetation for hiding and spawning cover. In wild populations, adult Oregon chub live up to nine years.

The bald eagle, grizzly bear, American alligator and gray wolf are all species which once found themselves on the list, facing the brink of extinction but have successfully rebounded.  In addition to the Oregon chub, the wood stork, Kirtland's warbler, Louisiana black bear and Kemp's Ridley sea turtle are listed species that are showing good progress towards achieving recovery – the ultimate goal of the ESA.  These recovered and recovering species are just a few examples of those benefiting from the protections afforded by the ESA.

There are currently 1,317 species listed in the U.S.: 746 plants and 571 animals.The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public